Hmm. Since u mentioned that she has potential to go on level with Barbra & Whitney. I was just wondering whether Rihanna can catch up to them as well or not with her inactivity lately. Like is she a strong contender or is her possibility of catching up growing thinner these days?

Hi Jazz!

Something often underrated in these all-time top selling lists is the productivity. We often think it's a reflection of who's the most popular, but it's also heavily down to how hard working an artist is, how much he wants to remain on top. Not saying she is lazy, but the way Adele builds her career for example is limiting her. On an album by album comparison she destroys Taylor, yet in the long run Taylor seems poised to be the biggest. Artists' heydays are short, I consider the norm to be 6 years, so when you wait 5 years between each album it's impossible to compete. You may be able to hold the comparison by doing crazy numbers upon release as Adele or Jackson before her did, but it's very, very difficult to keep challenging the others in terms of catalog sales.

Adele's albums are all among the most streamed albums from their respective years (5-1-5 in their annual lists), yet she gains only 4 million daily streams. Taylor was doing 10 million a day without the addition of folklore and evermore to her catalog, which is now worth 12+ million a day, 3 times more than Adele. Even if Adele returns and does 20 million album sales, which seems very unlikely now, she will jump ahead of Taylor only to see her move back on top as years pass. It's also not like she can continue pulling 20 million sellers from time to time, as I said heydays are shortlived, while catalog sales are an evergreen source of success, and that's not 1 but 3-4-5 more very successful albums she need to get 10+ million daily streams organically.

Rihanna registers 9 million streams per day, so if she returns to the scene and manages to be as successful as she used to be, she is still a force to be reckoned with, and can follow the footsteps of Taylor or outdo her. This being said, she hasn't released a thing for 5 years and only 1 album in 9 years. At the moment I see her as a superstar athlete who's injured for so long that it's hard to value her on the back of the talent she has, as clubs don't buy injured players, it's hard to put money on her at the moment.

Amazing . She is smart businesswoman. But her streaming stats are nice but not the best when it comes to per album. But she has a good catalog which will keep adding. And she releases too much for that.

She might be outpacing adele bcoz of her catalog but album to album. ADELE 90 million is more impressive imo.

Chinese sales were downweighted this year as 40 or 50 million chinese song was ranked number 7 this year
So swifities who mock chartmasters for not adding extra 3 or 4 million in her total can be shut now

And chartmasters numbers are close to what most labels report for their artists these days . Congrats for 100 million achievement.

Well she was the most streamed female artist on Spotify in 2020 and she is right now in 2021 and the second artists overall behind Bad Bunny. Also she is the most streamed artists ever on Amazon music and the second females artist on Apple Music. Her streaming power is every time bigger

Do you consider physical sales in China? My sister travel there like two years ago, before covid, and she sent me a pic of one Chinese mall, the wearer music area was full of Lover, reputation and 1989, so I guess Taylor has strong sales there, moreover the digital downloads

So based on your formula, Taylor has pulled 3.191 million CSPC sales in China alone. Combine those number with her sales in Japan, it should be around 4.909 million CSPC at least excluding other Asian market but why her stats in Asia only at 3.460 million? Am I missing something here?

Hi MJD, thank you for your great work! When you're done with these new 100 million sellers (+ Eminem), have you already decided who's next to be updated?

A poll similar to the one you created for artists yet to be studied might be a good idea. Personally, I think Beyoncé might be a good candidate as her catalog moves very consistent numbers on Spotify and she is not too far away from the 100 million mark.

Keep up with the good work! What you do with this site is brilliant and it is always interesting to see studies of artists whose sales are not well documented online.

hi MJD,
considering that 1989 is currently gaining more daily Spotify streams than × (multiply) + the upcoming re-recording of it.
is it possible that it passes it to become the biggest album of 2014?

Nobody calls her that by intention..it was honorary name award to her by a reputable publication and at AMAs award and have cited by others too ( you can search on google ) . Thing is at least people calling her that has some official sources to back up but while others who try to imitate have clearly just the words

Are the sales of the reissue of Fearless combined with the sales of the old version?

Bcoz of multiple releases and a good catalog. I meant per album.
Her albums are not on par with most streamed ones. But it is combined total and 9 albums countless re releases .
Her catalog is like Eminem but at lesser value and power.

1989 is getting around 2.4mil on spotify daily (most out of any album released in 2014), red 1.5 (5th most from 2012), fearless, speak now are around top 10. Thats huge.

Hi Donchano!
I think it is because de CSPC sales you are talking about are due to digital downloads.
The total of 4.909m is not CSPC, but only physical album sales (albums means studio + live + compil + box + EP)

1989 is currently outstreaming albums like thank u, next.
and reputation which is considered "a flop" is gaining similar daily numbers to Good Girl Gone Bad and 21 with its biggest song only doing 270k daily
Speak Now her 2010 country album with no smash hits is in the range of LOUD, IASF and Prism when it comes to daily streams as well.

her catalog has always been strong ...

21 came out in 2011, sold 31 million copies , 60 million downloads and still most streamed album of 2011. Reputation still got outstreamed by a pre stream era album.

25 came out after 1989, sold 20 million, came late on spotify and still has more streams on that than 1989 and 25 won't have 100 rereleases and 100 marketing gimmicks.

Adele's biggest hits blow taylor's out of water
Adele average is way better. And she never cared for streaming either. Even if Adele never releases a thing, she will be over 100 million in 5 or 6 years with just 3 albums. Less than 3 times of taylor's album and countless releases lol. Taylor need so many releases to compete with Adele. Adele's dominance is effortless.