Karma
Heart Attack
The #1 artist in the WORLD? Is it Michael Jackson, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Elvis Presley, Whitney Houston, or even (GAG) Mariah Carey?? The answer is: There IS no definative answer because there is no organization that has recorded GLOBAL music sales. To possibly (and most accurately) determine who is (and it could be more than ONE person) #1, several criteria must be taken into consideration and this is in ADDITION to "official sources" such as newspapers, record lables, ablum and single sales, soundscan tabulations etc.
The major CONSTRAINTS in attempting to accurately determine the #1 artist on a global scale include: Bias towards specific artists/groups who have had success in specific countries/regions; Bias toward MODERN/current artists ( there is now a genre spectrum of music to listen to which limits the number of listeners); Bias towards MODERN artists ( Comparitively less successfull modern artists will have sold more records as global spending power and population have increased. Also, older artists would suffer from bias because their record sales are less likely to have been accurately tracked [soundscan didnt debut until the mid 1990's] and estimates of their earlier sales is likely to be more vague. ) ; Bias toward older artists particularly those who began their recording career since 1990 may have experienced some loss of sales due to illegal downloading of tracks; Fan sites/Press articles/certification authorities/ and record companies have been known to inflate record sales claims; Inflated claims for artists who have performed in different acts during their musical careers -sometimes all of the sales data is attributed to an individual artist (e.g. results for Paul Mccartney & the Wings / The Beatles are mutually exclusive); Inconsistencies between the sources of various statistics - For example world sales are often compared to US sales (RIAA and soundscan certify US sales ONLY)
The FACT is that "the best selling musical act in history" CANNOT be accurately determined. However Michael Jackson, The Beatles and Elvis Presley have been given the title by various sources.
Here is a clear (and surprising) look at Artists by reputed sales :
*Listed in alphabetical order NOT by any "official" ranking
500 million records or more
200 million to 500 million records
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To date, other artists such as Barbara Striesand, Britney Spears and many more popular names have reached the 50, 75 to 100 million mark but based on all available/accurate/up to date information would not qualify for consideration of the title "#1 artist in the world".
And there you have an accurate, unbiased look at a topic that has been debated around the world many times over. Comments are welcomed.
The major CONSTRAINTS in attempting to accurately determine the #1 artist on a global scale include: Bias towards specific artists/groups who have had success in specific countries/regions; Bias toward MODERN/current artists ( there is now a genre spectrum of music to listen to which limits the number of listeners); Bias towards MODERN artists ( Comparitively less successfull modern artists will have sold more records as global spending power and population have increased. Also, older artists would suffer from bias because their record sales are less likely to have been accurately tracked [soundscan didnt debut until the mid 1990's] and estimates of their earlier sales is likely to be more vague. ) ; Bias toward older artists particularly those who began their recording career since 1990 may have experienced some loss of sales due to illegal downloading of tracks; Fan sites/Press articles/certification authorities/ and record companies have been known to inflate record sales claims; Inflated claims for artists who have performed in different acts during their musical careers -sometimes all of the sales data is attributed to an individual artist (e.g. results for Paul Mccartney & the Wings / The Beatles are mutually exclusive); Inconsistencies between the sources of various statistics - For example world sales are often compared to US sales (RIAA and soundscan certify US sales ONLY)
The FACT is that "the best selling musical act in history" CANNOT be accurately determined. However Michael Jackson, The Beatles and Elvis Presley have been given the title by various sources.
Here is a clear (and surprising) look at Artists by reputed sales :
*Listed in alphabetical order NOT by any "official" ranking
500 million records or more
- The Beatles
- Bing Crosby
- Elvis Presley
- Frank Sinatra
- Michael Jackson
200 million to 500 million records
- Abba
- The Bee Gees
- Celine Dion
- Cher
- Elton John
- Julio Inglesias
- Led Zepplin
- Madonna
- Pink Floyd
- Queen
- The Rolling Stones
- Rod Stewart
- Wei Wei
- AC/DC
- Aerosmith
- Barry White
- Backstreet Boys
- Beach Boys
- Billy Joel
- Bon Jovi
- The Carpenters
- Dionne Warwick
- Dolly Parton
- Donna Summer
- The Eagles
- Electric Light Orchestra
- Fats Domino
- Garth Brooks
- Genesis
- Iron Maiden
- Janet Jackson
- KC & The Sunshine Band
- Lionel Richie
- Luciano Pavarotti
- Mariah Carey
- Neil Diamond
- Patty Paige
- Pet Shop Boys
- Prince
- Tina Turner
- U2
- Whitney Houston
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To date, other artists such as Barbara Striesand, Britney Spears and many more popular names have reached the 50, 75 to 100 million mark but based on all available/accurate/up to date information would not qualify for consideration of the title "#1 artist in the world".
And there you have an accurate, unbiased look at a topic that has been debated around the world many times over. Comments are welcomed.
I knew she was popular world wide, but it's awesome putting a number to her record sales. I'm not a huge Celine Dion fan but I do love some of her ballots. So I can see why she's up there. I heart Pink Floyd, and I LOVED their 'The Wall' album, but I never knew they were that popular world wide. Pretty cool. I'm not a huge fan of Cher, but I can see why she's up there. She's been in the game for quite some time so it's not hard to believe her record sales are in the 200-500 millions.