Top artists – Albums’ pure sales
Welcome to our ranking of best-selling artists in terms of albums’ pure sales.
Records included are studio albums, compilations, live albums and box sets. Note that music videos, EPs and singles are not considered here.
Top artists – Albums’ pure sales
| # | Country | Artist | Units sold |
|---|---|---|---|
| World | The Beatles | 384,209,000 | |
| World | Elvis Presley | 244,475,000 | |
| World | Michael Jackson | 235,440,000 | |
| World | Pink Floyd | 203,010,000 | |
| World | Madonna | 201,900,000 | |
| World | The Rolling Stones | 201,100,000 | |
| World | Queen | 192,564,000 | |
| World | Frank Sinatra | 186,139,000 | |
| World | Led Zeppelin | 182,500,000 | |
| USA | The Beatles | 179,312,000 | |
| World | Celine Dion | 171,625,000 | |
| World | AC/DC | 169,670,000 | |
| World | U2 | 169,000,000 | |
| World | Elton John | 167,640,000 | |
| World | Eric Clapton | 154,987,500 | |
| USA | Elvis Presley | 154,985,000 | |
| World | Eagles | 153,885,000 | |
| World | Rod Stewart | 153,338,500 | |
| World | Mariah Carey | 152,773,000 | |
| World | Neil Diamond | 138,976,000 | |
| World | Barbra Streisand | 138,610,000 | |
| World | Bruce Springsteen | 138,400,000 | |
| World | Metallica | 133,775,000 | |
| World | ABBA | 130,250,000 | |
| World | Fleetwood Mac | 129,650,000 | |
| World | Billy Joel | 129,075,000 | |
| World | Whitney Houston | 128,600,000 | |
| World | Bob Dylan | 128,375,000 | |
| World | Santana | 128,085,500 | |
| World | Phil Collins | 127,350,000 | |
| World | Bee Gees | 125,795,000 | |
| World | Eminem | 125,735,000 | |
| World | Garth Brooks | 120,190,000 | |
| World | Bob Marley | 120,150,000 | |
| World | Aerosmith | 116,080,000 | |
| World | Bon Jovi | 115,650,000 | |
| World | The Beach Boys | 114,982,000 | |
| Europe | The Beatles | 107,506,000 | |
| USA | Garth Brooks | 107,235,000 | |
| World | Prince | 106,840,000 | |
| World | Simon & Garfunkel | 106,565,000 | |
| World | David Bowie | 103,910,000 | |
| World | Guns N' Roses | 102,770,000 | |
| World | Genesis | 101,366,250 | |
| World | The Doors | 100,941,000 | |
| World | Dire Straits | 100,350,000 | |
| USA | Eagles | 98,205,000 | |
| USA | Frank Sinatra | 96,217,000 | |
| World | Paul McCartney | 93,654,000 | |
| World | Stevie Wonder | 92,138,000 | |
| Country | Artist |
Some artists are missing because their analysis has not been done yet, or their breakdown by country isn’t available for now. Here is the complete list of covered artists.
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Artists
SPS – Best-selling artists ever | by decade | by period | by discography strength
Tools: Artist dashboard | Compare artists
Sales – Albums | Physical singles | Digital singles
Streams – Most streamed on Spotify | all audio DSPs
Tools: Playcounts | Royalties | Global reach | Stats history
Others KPIs – Top Spotify | Monthly listeners | Followers | Popularity | Virality | Top money makers
Albums
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Sales – Best-selling albums
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SPS – Top songs | #1 each year
Sales – Physical | Digital
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