Tracks Ranking – Raw sales – Digital singles
All sales made through legal platforms are considered, as well as ringtones. The figures given here are units sold.
Please keep in mind that some artists are missing, because their analysis has not been done yet. The complete list is available here. All figures reflect the value as collected at the time of the artist’s respective articles.
1. 2010 – Adele – Rolling In The Deep [21] – 20,600,000
2. 2010 – Maroon 5 ft. Christina Aguilera – Moves Like Jagger [Hands All Over] – 20,140,000
3. 2008 – Lady Gaga – Poker Face [The Fame] – 20,110,000
4. 2010 – Eminem ft. Rihanna – Love the Way You Lie [Recovery] – 18,710,000
5. 2009 – Black Eyed Peas – I Gotta Feeling [The E.N.D.] – 17,700,000
6. 2011 – Adele – Someone Like You [21] – 17,350,000
7. 2014 – Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars – Uptown Funk [Uptown Special] – 17,030,000
8. 2010 – Bruno Mars – Just the Way You Are [Doo-Wops & Hooligans] – 16,190,000
9. 2002 – Eminem – Lose Yourself [8 Mile] – 15,930,000
10. 2013 – Various Artists – Let It Go [Frozen] – 15,540,000
11. 2009 – Black Eyed Peas – Boom Boom Pow [The E.N.D.] – 14,350,000
12. 2008 – Coldplay – Viva La Vida [Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends] – 14,210,000
13. 2012 – Maroon 5 ft. Wiz Khalifa – Payphone [Overexposed] – 14,000,000
14. 2008 – Lady Gaga ft. Colby O’Donis – Just Dance [The Fame] – 13,630,000
15. 2012 – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis ft. Wanz – Thrift Shop [The Heist] – 13,360,000
16. 1981 – Journey – Don’t Stop Believin’ [Escape] – 13,140,000
17. 2008 – Beyoncé – Halo [I Am… Sasha Fierce] – 13,120,000
18. 2011 – Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris – We Found Love [Talk That Talk] – 12,960,000
19. 2010 – Katy Perry – Firework [Teenage Dream] – 12,820,000
20. 2010 – Bruno Mars – Grenade [Doo-Wops & Hooligans] – 12,470,000
21. 2009 – Lady Gaga – Bad Romance [The Fame Monster] – 12,240,000
21. 2008 – Taylor Swift – Love Story [Fearless] – 12,240,000
23. 2012 – Imagine Dragons – Radioactive [Night Visions] – 12,100,000
24. 2010 – Justin Bieber ft. Ludacris – Baby [My Worlds] – 12,070,000
25. 2008 – Beyoncé – Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) [I Am… Sasha Fierce] – 11,930,000
26. 2008 – Katy Perry – I Kissed A Girl [One Of The Boys] – 11,810,000
27. 2008 – Katy Perry – Hot N Cold [One Of The Boys] – 11,790,000
28. 2013 – Katy Perry – Roar [Prism] – 11,750,000
29. 2007 – Avril Lavigne – Girlfriend [The Best Damn Thing] – 11,630,000
30. 2010 – Eminem – Not Afraid [Recovery] – 11,610,000
31. 2014 – Ed Sheeran – Thinking Out Loud [x (Multiply)] – 11,430,000
32. 2007 – Rihanna ft. Jay-Z – Umbrella [Good Girl Gone Bad] – 11,400,000
33. 2006 – Justin Timberlake ft. Timbaland – SexyBack [FutureSex/LoveSounds] – 11,310,000
34. 2015 – Adele – Hello [25] – 11,270,000
35. 2006 – Beyoncé – Irreplaceable [B’Day] – 11,140,000
36. 2013 – Avicii – Wake Me Up [True] – 11,120,000
37. 2005 – Shakira ft. Wyclef Jean – Hips Don’t Lie / Sera Sera [Oral Fixation, Vol. 2] – 11,080,000
38. 2010 – Katy Perry ft. Snoop Dogg – California Gurls [Teenage Dream] – 11,060,000
39. 2009 – Jay-Z ft. Alicia Keys – Empire State Of Mind [The Blueprint 3] – 10,900,000
40. 2012 – Bruno Mars – Locked Out of Heaven [Unorthodox Jukebox] – 10,850,000
41. 2012 – Maroon 5 – One More Night [Overexposed] – 10,650,000
42. 2011 – Lady Gaga – Born This Way [Born This Way] – 10,330,000
43. 2011 – Adele – Set Fire To The Rain [21] – 10,040,000
44. 2012 – Bruno Mars – When I Was Your Man [Unorthodox Jukebox] – 9,950,000
45. 2012 – Rihanna – Diamonds [Unapolegetic] – 9,840,000
46. 2011 – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis ft. Ray Dalton – Can’t Hold Us [The Heist] – 9,800,000
47. 2014 – Taylor Swift – Shake It Off [1989] – 9,700,000
48. 2008 – Rihanna – Take A Bow [Good Girl Gone Bad] – 9,660,000
49. 1994 – Mariah Carey – All I Want for Christmas Is You [Merry Christmas] – 9,600,000
50. 2013 – Katy Perry ft. Juicy J – Dark Horse [Prism] – 9,470,000
Will Taylor‘s rerecordings make her the winner in the race for the 100 Million in the 21st century?
Nah eminem has sold more records
Eminem debuted in the 90s though
I think Coldplay and Rihanna were already over 100 Million before her
if you update the pure sales of the 3 of them Taylor Swift is already at 100m while Coldplay and Rihanna are around 99.5m currently
Is there any act who could break the top 5 best selling digital single artist? Maybe Kanye West?? In top 10 maybe Nicki Minaj?
If you have time, please update Blackpink’s! It’s been quite a while since the last update. Thank you!
I think they haven’t been studied since not that many album releases yet and there are obviously older acts who sold more and are in need to be studied more. It would be cool if they were added though, since they are pretty big when it comes to streaming
Shouldn’t Sting and The Police totals be combined ? Considering “Rod Stewart & Faces”, “George Michael & Wham”, Bon Jovi’s total including Jon’s solo album… I mean, Sting basically WAS The Police, writing the songs and singing them.
I disagree they are two distinct and separate acts, I also disagree with Rod Stewart & Faces being combined.
I think Bon Jovi is different because Jon’s album sold because he was in Bon Jovi and all they did was add three letter before the bands name.
And its impossible to split George Michael and Wham! because there are solo Michael works on Wham! albums and George Michael compilations that dont contain Wham! songs still contain those songs
Was wondering have you guys considered adding a devoted page to a running list of best-selling compilation albums for artists that have been studied? Would be nice to have as a reference since they get excluded out from the Studio Albums page.
And now Paul Simon has sold publishing rights to Sony’s for 200 $ million. Fleetwood Mac (Lyndsey Buckinham and Steve Nicks), Richie Sambora (Bon Jovis), Dylan, Neil Young, Ryan Tedder (200 $ million) and now P.Simon and many others songwrites have recieved hundres million dollars in compensation for their work. Biggest deal at this time Bob Dylan’s 400 $ millions. But i think that Madonna and many others pop singers finds difficult to sell her or his music, cause of the songwrites as many as ten. Beyonce Lemonades record had about 40 authors(! )said Hipgnosis founder Merck Mercuriadis. The authentic… Read more »
Business is changing. Hipgnosis founder Merck Mercuriadis has been great gift to songwriters, who are most important in the business. Spotify payment to artists and expecially the songwrites is non-existent. Now Dylan, Young, Paul Simon, Calvin Harris, Ryan Tedder, Fleerwood Mac, Shakira and dozens others got a decent reward for their work. 80-400 $ million ballpark. Spotify is rude and the most important thing for them is to make money. Founder Daniel Ek net worth 4,5 billion dollars and his friends in Spotify are billionaires too. This seam was struck by this Mr. Mercuradius. For him music is most important… Read more »
I would like do you all count/esitmate Apple Music US streaming data, because it’s A LOT of affect for US charts?
Hi Tommy!
There’s an article on them already. Of course it would be great to include them, but it’s their choice to hide their numbers.
i think Lana needs an update… she released two albums since her article was last updated