For years, many of you have been waiting patiently for every new Commensure Sales to Popularity Concept (CSPC) article, pieces of work portraying in detail the success of an artist.

Today, with introduce the biggest revolution since the start of this concept.

In fact, the streaming component of CSPC totals will now be updated automatically as soon as you want it!

The best selling artists ever

If you are not familiar with this concept, it consists in retrieving sales figures from every format and weighting them on par with album sales.

In doing so, we grant that comparisons between artists from different periods make sense, unlike lists based on raw records totals.

The method also secures that the same formula is applied to all artists, avoiding issues related to the varying conversion rate used for streaming in different markets as well as by most labels on their communications.

All figures for sales have been detailed on each artist article, available through the link under their name.

The column ‘Other LPs’ includes long formats made of already released material like greatest hits compilations, box sets, live records, bootlegs, and music videos.

Digital singles include both downloads and ringtones.

The automatic update of streams

Data related to streams uses multiple audio and video platforms to convert into EAS (Equivalent Album Sales). The formula is defined as below.

Equivalent Albums Sales (EAS) = ( Spotify * 310/207 + Genie * 3.05*2 + AWA * 100/5.5 ) / 1500 + ( Xiami * 125/6.5 + YouTube ) / 11750

Platforms Genie, AWA, and Xiami reflect artists’ popularity in South Korea, Japan and China, respectively.

Once we apply the formula to the results of an artist, we are able to define a conversion rate between Spotify numbers to comprehensive streaming EAS.

We then apply this rate to last updated streams from Spotify as searched by our users with our tool.

For example, if an artist had 3 billion streams on Spotify and 5 million EAS from streams when last studied while he is up to 6 billion streams now, the process will add him 5 million EAS on top of his previous total.

If something happens to significantly change the ratio, like a local artist getting a big global smash, we will update it inside our database.

Regular users of our streaming search tool know it doesn’t retrieve features that do not appear inside an artist page.

In backend, we do have a version of the tool that does look for what we use to call orphan songs.

The script looks at the former streaming EAS from the article, the calculated EAs based on the last user search (without orphans) and the calculated EAS based on the last backend search (with orphans) and uses the highest figure on below table.

We will make sure to frequently look for the largest artists in terms of orphan songs like Rihanna, Drake and Justin Bieber.

A last specificity are artists with side discographies that are accounted for into their CSPC article because of their huge contribution on them.

Selena Gomez & The Scene, Beyoncé as part of The Carters, Rod Stewart & The Faces, the Jackson 5 with the Jacksons, etc.

We also accounted for these cases by looking at the relative strength of the side discography so that the calculation remains comprehensive.

If you happen a number going down, it would be either because we revised the artist ratio downward or because Spotify made a song unavailable. In this later case, we will fix the situation manually as soon as we notice it.

For further details, feel free to use the comment section.

If you would like to support us and can afford it, you may reach our contribution page. If you have more time than money and are interested in participating in the content creation, please reach us through comments, Twitter or email, we will be reaching you back!

Top CSPC – the all-time artists chart

To allow you to see the tremendous impact of this mass update, which adds for over 300 million sales over all artists, we temporarily display head to head the former CSPC total along with the updated one.

The below table presents the best selling artists of all-time using the below ratios.

• Studio Album: sales of the original album
• Other LPs: sales of compilations generated thanks to the album
• Physical Singles: sales of physical singles from the album (added to CSPC total with a ratio 3/10 for 2-tracks, 5/10 for EPs and Maxis)
• Digital Singles: sales of digital singles from the album (ratio 1,5/10 for CSPC total)
• Streaming: equivalent album sales of all the album tracks (ratio 1/1500 for Audio stream and 1/11750 for Video stream)

The * mark after streaming numbers means the value contains orphan songs.

Naturally, older artists have very few features, so the absence of them can be irrelevant.

The Beatles for example have simply no orphan song at all on Spotify, meaning that all their songs are available on their artist page as they recording no featuring nor songs for various artists releases.

#	PIC	Artist	Total CSPC	Studio Albums Sales	Other LPs Sales	Physical Singles Sales	Digital Singles Sales	Sales Update	Streams EAS (Update)
1		The Beatles	414,816,000	160,650,000	203,392,000	116,080,000	35,230,000	03/01/17	10,666,000* (04/02/21)
2		Michael Jackson	329,801,000	182,600,000	101,997,000	79,350,000	79,930,000	09/27/17	9,409,000* (04/03/21)
3		Elvis Presley	316,207,000	53,150,000	212,309,000	135,210,000	37,470,000	09/01/18	4,566,000* (02/28/21)
4		Queen	268,291,000	90,230,000	139,348,000	49,960,000	59,650,000	01/25/20	14,774,000* (04/02/21)
5		Madonna	243,696,000	146,450,000	64,420,000	75,210,000	42,100,000	08/13/17	3,948,000* (04/03/21)
6		The Rolling Stones	240,291,000	113,800,000	92,495,000	72,770,000	46,200,000	12/03/16	5,234,000* (03/31/21)
7		Pink Floyd	233,492,000	169,600,000	52,025,000	8,800,000	23,360,000	06/18/17	5,723,000* (04/01/21)
8		Led Zeppelin	203,836,000	141,500,000	51,200,000	6,350,000	32,030,000	08/08/16	4,427,000* (04/01/21)
9		Elton John	200,118,000	88,630,000	82,400,000	65,340,000	26,250,000	02/05/18	5,548,000* (03/31/21)
10		U2	197,772,000	127,100,000	53,051,000	22,550,000	40,500,000	08/31/16	4,781,000* (03/31/21)
11		Céline Dion	195,878,000	136,200,000	40,424,000	39,290,000	26,660,000	09/23/16	3,468,000* (04/03/21)
12		AC/DC	195,489,000	132,470,000	49,349,000	7,200,000	33,450,000	02/20/18	6,492,000* (04/03/21)
13		Rod Stewart & Faces	188,807,000	100,150,000	66,819,000	55,220,000	17,420,000	11/23/19	2,650,000* (04/01/21)
14		Eminem	186,841,000	97,920,000	25,487,000	14,380,000	197,610,000	07/31/19	29,480,000* (04/03/21)
15		Eagles	173,297,000	65,425,000	96,732,000	16,630,000	20,440,000	12/20/17	3,086,000* (04/02/21)
16		Mariah Carey	171,740,000	116,100,000	31,228,000	36,890,000	50,130,000	04/28/17	5,826,000* (04/03/21)
17		Metallica	159,638,000	121,260,000	20,164,000	15,480,000	40,770,000	02/13/19	7,454,000* (04/02/21)
18		ABBA	159,262,000	45,300,000	91,491,000	54,400,000	17,870,000	11/02/16	3,471,000* (04/01/21)
19		Bruce Springsteen	159,197,000	103,400,000	42,176,000	21,010,000	25,420,000	07/07/17	3,506,000* (03/29/21)
20		Bee Gees	159,041,000	75,525,000	56,477,000	72,790,000	17,230,000	04/09/17	2,617,000* (04/02/21)
21		Whitney Houston	154,827,000	113,600,000	17,175,000	49,520,000	34,250,000	05/04/17	4,057,000* (04/02/21)
22		Barbra Streisand	152,966,000	91,370,000	49,714,000	35,250,000	3,680,000	03/16/18	754,000* (03/26/21)
23		Phil Collins	149,334,000	93,780,000	39,905,000	29,910,000	22,690,000	04/11/18	3,273,000* (03/29/21)
24		Billy Joel	148,768,000	91,400,000	40,235,000	36,900,000	21,000,000	10/19/16	2,913,000* (04/01/21)
25		Fleetwood Mac	148,411,000	84,550,000	46,392,000	26,060,000	32,030,000	10/08/16	4,847,000* (03/30/21)
26		Bon Jovi	147,317,000	89,450,000	39,176,000	27,980,000	38,450,000	11/16/16	4,529,000* (03/31/21)
27		Santana	144,512,000	89,465,000	46,265,000	15,380,000	16,560,000	08/04/20	1,762,000* (02/12/21)
28		Garth Brooks	144,340,000	81,605,000	62,341,000	950,000	90,000	01/05/19	94,000* (03/18/21)
29		Bob Dylan	143,881,000	83,350,000	47,870,000	17,680,000	30,410,000	10/23/16	2,796,000* (04/01/21)
30		Bob Marley	138,891,000	43,075,000	81,593,000	9,980,000	33,690,000	11/21/17	6,175,000* (04/02/21)
31		Prince	132,943,000	86,580,000	27,141,000	42,910,000	29,590,000	10/04/18	1,911,000* (03/31/21)
32		Aerosmith	131,771,000	71,710,000	48,158,000	15,500,000	25,550,000	06/01/18	3,420,000* (03/31/21)
33		David Bowie	128,599,000	71,500,000	36,023,000	44,200,000	19,830,000	01/11/17	4,840,000* (04/02/21)
34		Simon & Garfunkel	125,120,000	37,820,000	75,732,000	23,830,000	14,350,000	05/11/18	2,267,000* (03/31/21)
35		Stevie Wonder	122,065,000	65,605,000	28,070,000	65,320,000	34,490,000	03/17/21	3,541,000 (03/17/21)
36		Guns N' Roses	121,269,000	86,360,000	20,134,000	11,900,000	37,210,000	03/01/18	5,623,000* (03/31/21)
37		The Doors	115,724,000	51,980,000	55,480,000	13,860,000	11,100,000	03/03/19	2,441,000* (03/31/21)
38		Paul McCartney	110,957,000	61,670,000	27,441,000	57,970,000	11,250,000	12/13/18	2,767,000* (03/30/21)
39		Dire Straits	110,101,000	71,730,000	31,635,000	8,380,000	10,900,000	03/23/18	2,587,000* (04/01/21)
40		George Michael & Wham!	107,458,000	60,200,000	26,150,000	49,880,000	16,770,000	05/07/17	3,629,000* (04/03/21)
41		Britney Spears	104,139,000	68,595,000	11,460,000	18,600,000	83,030,000	04/28/19	6,050,000* (04/03/21)
42		Van Halen	102,494,000	79,620,000	14,065,000	10,450,000	16,810,000	12/14/20	3,148,000* (02/09/21)
43		Coldplay	99,396,000	59,560,000	5,979,000	2,050,000	93,680,000	11/30/19	19,185,000* (04/03/21)
44		Rihanna	98,956,000	33,100,000	500,000	3,560,000	251,150,000	07/03/19	26,617,000* (04/03/21)
45		Taylor Swift	98,012,000	48,220,000	3,768,000	260,000	158,560,000	10/23/20	22,158,000* (04/03/21)
46		The Police	97,862,000	46,370,000	40,183,000	23,810,000	11,300,000	06/06/20	2,459,000* (04/01/21)
47		Backstreet Boys	96,825,000	58,900,000	25,685,000	18,010,000	22,550,000	02/09/17	3,454,000* (04/02/21)
48		Red Hot Chili Peppers	95,727,000	61,870,000	16,881,000	4,800,000	44,400,000	03/29/18	8,877,000* (04/02/21)
49		Nirvana	92,712,000	45,000,000	37,650,000	4,190,000	23,250,000	07/09/17	5,317,000* (03/31/21)
50		Creedence Clearwater Revival	91,189,000	33,135,000	45,489,000	22,570,000	14,600,000	01/31/19	3,605,000* (03/31/21)
51		Drake	90,114,000	14,775,000	0	0	137,310,000	08/28/17	54,743,000* (04/03/21)
52		Adele	90,039,000	59,110,000	3,855,000	530,000	100,240,000	06/02/19	11,879,000* (04/02/21)
53		Enya	87,877,000	65,480,000	17,069,000	5,250,000	9,610,000	02/25/18	2,310,000* (04/01/21)
54		Bryan Adams	87,665,000	42,260,000	30,518,000	32,090,000	17,250,000	03/23/19	2,673,000* (03/23/21)
55		Linkin Park	86,079,000	48,350,000	14,500,000	3,210,000	73,710,000	06/04/17	11,210,000* (04/03/21)
56		Green Day	86,003,000	58,250,000	13,567,000	3,050,000	44,600,000	03/11/17	6,582,000* (03/18/21)
57		Beyonce	82,504,000	33,430,000	4,431,000	4,070,000	166,890,000	05/02/18	18,389,000* (04/03/21)
58		Shania Twain	81,579,000	63,200,000	11,259,000	13,130,000	10,700,000	12/05/16	1,576,000* (04/01/21)
59		Journey	81,012,000	40,250,000	31,623,000	8,090,000	29,770,000	09/13/19	2,248,000* (02/25/21)
60		Sting	79,689,000	52,360,000	17,720,000	16,010,000	14,160,000	06/14/20	2,420,000* (04/01/21)
61		Justin Bieber	79,225,000	19,810,000	7,120,000	540,000	110,890,000	08/04/19	35,499,000* (04/03/21)
62		Black Sabbath	78,353,000	46,280,000	27,467,000	3,300,000	11,280,000	03/08/20	1,884,000* (03/23/21)
63		Janet Jackson	77,830,000	50,500,000	12,175,000	40,640,000	13,350,000	04/17/17	962,000* (04/02/21)
64		Robbie Williams	76,159,000	46,500,000	21,770,000	11,960,000	13,860,000	12/15/19	2,205,000* (03/31/21)
65		Johnny Hallyday	75,788,000	26,740,000	35,156,000	43,740,000	1,430,000	01/01/18	557,000* (01/30/21)
66		Sade	75,062,000	51,560,000	18,565,000	6,270,000	11,140,000	07/01/20	1,384,000* (04/02/21)
67		John Lennon	73,511,000	31,420,000	30,759,000	26,780,000	12,160,000	10/16/18	1,474,000* (03/30/21)
68		Cher	73,248,000	34,825,000	21,889,000	46,220,000	9,630,000	08/30/17	1,224,000* (04/03/21)
69		Supertramp	71,670,000	48,540,000	17,999,000	10,070,000	6,830,000	08/13/19	1,085,000* (03/31/21)
70		Maroon 5	70,939,000	26,050,000	2,138,000	1,600,000	149,190,000	12/02/19	19,853,000* (04/01/21)
71		Ed Sheeran	70,020,000	21,970,000	466,000	130,000	79,640,000	10/27/19	35,595,000* (04/03/21)
72		Lady Gaga	69,427,000	31,215,000	4,790,000	1,570,000	128,860,000	12/18/20	13,620,000* (04/03/21)
73		P!nk	67,914,000	37,025,000	8,906,000	7,270,000	81,150,000	10/15/17	7,629,000* (04/03/21)
74		Michael Buble	65,707,000	47,800,000	6,344,000	770,000	35,400,000	12/11/16	6,022,000* (03/31/21)
75		BTS	65,577,000	21,850,000	7,960,000	3,220,000	30,880,000	09/04/20	30,166,000* (04/03/21)
76		Usher	64,299,000	36,160,000	2,201,000	12,040,000	93,610,000	09/04/17	8,284,000* (03/31/21)
77		Shakira	63,504,000	34,780,000	6,620,000	8,460,000	56,350,000	06/21/18	11,115,000* (04/03/21)
78		Meat Loaf	62,237,000	48,300,000	9,565,000	10,850,000	3,900,000	06/16/18	533,000* (03/31/21)
79		Oasis	61,372,000	41,050,000	10,046,000	11,420,000	18,800,000	12/06/17	4,031,000* (04/03/21)
80		Ayumi Hamasaki	61,307,000	21,810,000	19,339,000	25,980,000	46,480,000	09/27/19	637,000* (03/30/21)
81		Bruno Mars	60,222,000	17,375,000	40,000	250,000	149,580,000	06/27/19	20,296,000* (04/03/21)
82		Jackson 5 & The Jacksons	58,794,000	26,400,000	19,027,000	31,160,000	13,720,000	09/26/17	1,961,000* (04/02/21)
83		Alanis Morissette	57,555,000	47,065,000	6,951,000	3,340,000	9,080,000	06/05/18	1,175,000* (03/25/21)
84		Black Eyed Peas	56,593,000	33,350,000	251,000	6,590,000	103,960,000	08/03/17	5,421,000* (04/03/21)
85		Enrique Iglesias	55,674,000	33,900,000	5,300,000	8,900,000	50,110,000	09/27/16	6,287,000* (04/01/21)
86		Nickelback	55,563,000	40,500,000	1,824,000	3,020,000	57,280,000	06/28/17	3,741,000* (03/31/21)
87		Christina Aguilera	54,357,000	30,400,000	4,375,000	12,740,000	69,950,000	03/18/17	5,267,000* (03/30/21)
88		One Direction	52,236,000	23,900,000	6,350,000	120,000	57,000,000	05/14/17	13,399,000* (04/02/21)
89		Ozzy Osbourne	52,037,000	39,370,000	7,483,000	3,760,000	15,180,000	03/12/20	1,754,000* (03/19/21)
90		Paul Simon	51,930,000	34,390,000	11,598,000	12,820,000	3,740,000	05/10/18	1,536,000* (03/31/21)
91		Norah Jones	51,623,000	43,550,000	2,825,000	300,000	18,600,000	11/04/16	2,468,000* (03/31/21)
92		Tracy Chapman	51,580,000	43,760,000	3,519,000	3,480,000	12,490,000	06/25/19	1,382,000* (03/28/21)
93		Justin Timberlake	50,958,000	23,490,000	1,480,000	5,330,000	102,090,000	02/09/18	9,075,000* (04/02/21)
94		Katy Perry	50,651,000	15,880,000	300,000	870,000	135,430,000	06/16/19	13,896,000* (03/26/21)
95		Alicia Keys	50,232,000	32,960,000	2,524,000	3,690,000	57,750,000	11/19/16	4,978,000* (04/02/21)
96		Boston	50,157,000	41,330,000	4,803,000	5,640,000	9,540,000	06/01/19	902,000* (03/28/21)
97		Spice Girls	49,399,000	37,050,000	4,349,000	20,020,000	5,200,000	03/23/17	1,214,000* (03/31/21)
98		Destiny's Child	47,765,000	33,010,000	5,800,000	11,120,000	22,320,000	05/02/18	2,272,000* (04/02/21)
99		Miley Cyrus	47,467,000	23,050,000	2,365,000	250,000	70,530,000	12/06/20	11,397,000* (03/21/21)
100		Cranberries	45,765,000	37,650,000	3,710,000	4,120,000	8,210,000	01/25/18	1,938,000* (03/28/21)
101		Avril Lavigne	45,188,000	32,290,000	1,206,000	3,510,000	46,160,000	02/10/18	3,347,000* (04/02/21)
102		NSYNC	44,884,000	37,930,000	2,669,000	6,980,000	5,110,000	02/09/18	1,425,000* (04/02/21)
103		Ariana Grande	44,785,000	5,225,000	499,000	50,000	50,360,000	10/16/19	31,489,000* (04/03/21)
104		Mannheim Steamroller	44,145,000	33,305,000	10,344,000	40,000	2,410,000	12/24/20	114,000* (01/30/21)
105		Jennifer Lopez	44,093,000	26,120,000	4,811,000	10,760,000	36,810,000	06/24/18	4,413,000* (04/02/21)
106		The Weeknd	42,232,000	5,235,000	3,035,000	80,000	44,270,000	09/10/20	22,724,000* (04/03/21)
107		Foo Fighters	42,145,000	26,750,000	6,207,000	1,430,000	26,610,000	10/10/17	4,768,000* (03/31/21)
108		TLC	40,792,000	32,195,000	1,920,000	13,120,000	8,350,000	04/07/19	1,488,000* (03/31/21)
109		Take That	39,034,000	19,930,000	14,016,000	9,210,000	10,240,000	12/15/19	754,000* (02/17/21)
110		Kelly Clarkson	36,734,000	21,600,000	1,460,000	2,200,000	62,010,000	05/23/18	3,711,000* (04/03/21)
111		Kylie Minogue	36,581,000	20,320,000	7,103,000	19,720,000	12,150,000	04/16/18	1,418,000* (02/18/21)
112		No Doubt	35,257,000	25,730,000	6,058,000	4,910,000	6,080,000	03/29/20	1,085,000* (04/03/21)
113		Imagine Dragons	33,074,000	7,960,000	371,000	30,000	45,410,000	09/19/18	17,921,000* (03/31/21)
114		Amy Winehouse	32,683,000	23,180,000	2,411,000	580,000	21,660,000	07/19/19	3,669,000* (04/02/21)
115		Kendrick Lamar	31,862,000	5,725,000	50,000	0	32,650,000	04/12/19	21,189,000* (04/03/21)
116		Post Malone	31,111,000	1,720,000	10,000	40,000	14,640,000	11/26/20	27,172,000* (04/03/21)
117		Dido	30,892,000	26,630,000	420,000	5,320,000	6,210,000	02/18/19	1,314,000* (04/01/21)
118		Evanescence	30,729,000	22,440,000	2,755,000	2,170,000	18,390,000	06/30/19	2,125,000* (04/01/21)
119		Carrie Underwood	29,431,000	18,050,000	839,000	500,000	54,410,000	09/09/18	2,231,000* (04/02/21)
120		Selena Gomez	28,490,000	5,780,000	270,000	80,000	41,610,000	03/21/21	16,170,000 (03/21/21)
121		James Blunt	28,477,000	20,440,000	1,020,000	2,130,000	23,090,000	02/05/19	2,913,000* (03/31/21)
122		Sam Smith	27,343,000	6,525,000	25,000	100,000	32,700,000	10/11/17	15,858,000* (04/03/21)
123		Björk	25,950,000	19,730,000	4,372,000	2,620,000	3,460,000	12/23/18	543,000* (03/31/21)
124		Gorillaz	24,296,000	14,830,000	1,240,000	2,110,000	19,000,000	05/08/17	4,743,000* (04/03/21)
125		Shawn Mendes	22,736,000	2,630,000	120,000	40,000	20,330,000	10/08/19	16,925,000* (04/03/21)
126		Fugees	22,503,000	17,310,000	1,348,000	7,160,000	5,240,000	02/18/21	910,000* (03/28/21)
127		Renaud	22,184,000	13,230,000	7,667,000	2,660,000	690,000	11/01/17	385,000* (01/30/21)
128		Lana Del Rey	21,788,000	7,950,000	565,000	210,000	20,200,000	08/24/17	10,180,000* (04/03/21)
129		Macklemore	21,737,000	3,225,000	45,000	80,000	39,270,000	11/07/17	12,553,000* (03/21/21)
130		Ms. Lauryn Hill	21,506,000	15,610,000	1,734,000	3,660,000	7,670,000	02/18/21	1,914,000* (04/01/21)
131		Billie Eilish	20,898,000	2,270,000	2,000	10,000	5,920,000	07/04/20	17,716,000* (04/01/21)
132		Arctic Monkeys	20,837,000	10,340,000	302,000	560,000	12,870,000	05/14/18	8,097,000* (04/03/21)
133		Demi Lovato	20,726,000	4,480,000	35,000	50,000	35,890,000	10/09/18	10,812,000* (03/29/21)
134		Avicii	20,315,000	2,200,000	170,000	250,000	36,700,000	04/25/18	12,365,000* (03/29/21)
135		Gwen Stefani	19,874,000	12,060,000	154,000	3,130,000	29,040,000	04/12/20	2,365,000* (04/02/21)
136		Aaliyah	18,122,000	12,200,000	3,174,000	6,350,000	3,050,000	02/14/17	384,000* (04/03/21)
137		Dua Lipa	17,668,000	945,000	6,000	20,000	7,020,000	01/05/21	15,658,000* (04/03/21)
138		Fergie	13,895,000	6,450,000	25,000	750,000	36,900,000	07/12/17	1,660,000* (04/02/21)
139		Little Mix	12,414,000	3,670,000	0	130,000	12,020,000	02/02/20	6,902,000* (03/31/21)
140		Will.i.am	12,335,000	950,000	0	750,000	53,300,000	07/20/17	3,166,000* (03/29/21)
141		Lorde	11,386,000	3,300,000	100,000	0	19,250,000	06/22/17	5,098,000* (04/02/21)