Data Collector – Biggest Physical Singles Sellers
Yesterday, a list of the Biggest Digital Single Sellers has been published. We saw that Rihanna easily dominates this ranking but there is no suspense, she does not appear among Best Physical Single Sellers. It is becausethe physical single market was dead a long time before she has released her first record. So, who leads this category? Are there well ranked artists in the two formats? You will find the answer in the list below!
Please keep in mind some artists with strong results in this format haven’t been studied so far, e.g. Elton John, Elvis Presley or Diana Ross. All figures reflect the value as collected at the time of the artist’s respective articles.
A lot of lists like this one are available in the Data Collector, so feel free to read them to gauge how your favorite artist ranked in it.
Reminder of the formula:
Equivalent Albums Sales (EAS) = 0.3 * Physical Single Sales
Artists Ranking – Physical Singles SAles
1. Beatles – 116,080,000 units (34,823,000 EAS)
2. Michael Jackson – 79,350,000 units (23,805,000 EAS)
3. Madonna – 75,210,000 units (22,563,000 EAS)
4. Bee Gees – 72,790,000 units (21,837,000 EAS)
5. Rolling Stones – 72,770,000 units (21,832,000 EAS)
6. ABBA – 54,400,000 units (16,320,000 EAS)
7. George Michael & Wham! – 49,880,000 units (14,964,000 EAS)
8. Whitney Houston – 49,520,000 units (14,857,000 EAS)
9. Queen – 47,100,000 units (14,131,000 EAS)
10. Cher – 46,220,000 units (13,866,000 EAS)
11. David Bowie – 44,200,000 units (13,261,000 EAS)
12. Johnny Hallyday – 43,740,000 units (13,121,000 EAS)
13. Janet Jackson – 40,640,000 units (12,191,000 EAS)
14. Céline Dion – 39,290,000 units (11,787,000 EAS)
15. Billy Joel – 36,900,000 units (11,070,000 EAS)
16. Mariah Carey – 36,890,000 units (11,067,000 EAS)
17. Jackson 5 & The Jacksons – 31,160,000 units (9,348,000 EAS)
18. Bon Jovi – 27,980,000 units (8,394,000 EAS)
19. Fleetwood Mac – 26,060,000 units (7,817,000 EAS)
20. U2 – 22,550,000 units (6,765,000 EAS)
21. Bruce Springsteen – 21,010,000 units (6,302,000 EAS)
22. Spice Girls – 20,020,000 units (6,006,000 EAS)
23. Britney Spears – 18,600,000 units (5,580,000 EAS)
24. Backstreet Boys – 18,010,000 units (5,403,000 EAS)
25. Eminem – 17,970,000 units (5,391,000 EAS)
You guys need to make a list of the biggest selling compilation albums–you guys do a great job.,
We are back to the old “Most of Queen’s music was meticulously calculated show-biz stuff”.
Sounds like George Starostin’s old review hasn’t been kind to Queen’s legacy, at least in the eyes of some people, hehe.
Reminds me of the Rolling Stone review of Uriah Heep’s debut album, saying “If this group makes it I’ll have to commit suicide”. I wonder if she kept her word.
Impressive sales by Ms. Janet Jackson. Legendary
Shocked to see Janet Jackson sold more physical singles than Mariah and Celine Dion. Mariah overall sold the most singles with digital/physical combined tho.
Not really considering that Janet started earlier than them, is a sibling of Michael Jackson and usually releases more than 5 singles on every album.
Well, due all the disrespect she used to suffer being considered just a Michael’s sister and how people try discredit her all the time, like RLMAAJR do sometimes…Yes, is impressive how Janet managed to sold more physical singles than Celine Dion and Mariah even more if we considerate how the two late has more impact worldwide.
You don’t need put other act down to value your faves. I thought you had learned this. XOXO
And to add, the total physical singles sales gap between Janet and Celine is just about a million and about 4 million only between Janet and Mariah, despite of Mariah selling more than 80 million more albums than Janet and Celine selling more than 110 million albums more than Janet.