Talk:List of best-selling music artists

Garth Brooks

It currently states 128 million but the reference is an outdated RIAA list. Mattg82 (talk) 02:42, 9 November 2009 (UTC)

While I believe Brooks' actual sales could easily approach 140-150 million, it's best to keep him on the list with RIAA's current reference (which I too believe needs updating) rather than replace the source with weakly reliable sources only because they claim higher figures. I've personally been able to locate only one reliable source for Brooks, the article here is by CNN and it's only from October, 2009; however, it states a sales figure that is lower than what RIAA indicates.

If there is a reliable source claiming a higher figure ( possibly 140-150 million) than the 128 million presented by RIAA, please bring it to my attention. Thanks. --Harout72 (talk) 03:56, 10 November 2009 (UTC)

After alot of searching, I have found one for 140 million and another for 150 million. Though I think we need something more reliable than those sources. Mattg82 (talk) 23:58, 10 November 2009 (UTC)

I'm afraid those won't do, articles must come from highly regarded news establishments or respectable music-industry-organizations such as MTV.--Harout72 (talk) 02:35, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

If anyone could find some reliable sources for the figures stated above that would be great, as his figure really needs updating. Mattg82 (talk) 01:32, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

EMINEM Worldwide Record Sales 112 Million+

Eminem Worldwide Album Sales: (2009)

The Slim Shady LP: 9.1 Million The Marshall Mathers LP: 22.2 Million The Eminem Show: 20.5 Million 8 Mile Road: 9.1 Million Encore: 10.5 Million Curtain Call: 7.5 Million Re-Up: 2.5 Million Relapse 2.8 Million+

Total Album Sales: 84.2 Million

Best Selling Worldwide Singles/Downloads (Top 5): (2009)

Lose Yourself: 6,450,000 Without Me: 6,100,000 Stan: 5,500,000 The Real Slim Shady: 5,100,000 Just Lose It: 4,700,000

Record Sales: 112 Million+

http://www.mediatraffic.de/alltime-track-chart.htm —Preceding unsigned comment added by AJS2050 (talk • contribs) 15:05, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

I don't know what the points are supposed to represent on that web site; however, I wouldn't consider "mediatraffic.de" a reliable source. As far as the figures of albums and the singles go (provided above) in comparison with the figures what Eminem's certifications suggest, I'd say the figures above are rather inflated. Here is a look at Eminem's certified sales on albums, the following markets should cover 85% of the regions:

• Slim Shady-LP: 4,000,000 in US, 1,000,000+ in entire European continent, 200,000 in Canada, 70,000 in Australia, I see no certified sales in Brazil, Argentina or Mexico. The total for these regions is 5,300,000 in certified sales.
• The Marshall Mathers-LP: 9,000,000 in US, 6,000,000 in the entire European continent, 800,000 in Canada, 280,000 in Australia, 100,000 in Brazil, 150,000 in Mexico. The total for these regions is 16,500,000 in certified sales.
• The Eminem Show-LP: 8,000,000 in US, 4,000,000 in the entire European continent, 1,000,000 in Canada, 560,000 in Australia, 50,000 in Brazil, 75,000 in Mexico, 40,000 in Argentina. The total for these regions is 13,800,000 in certified sales.
• Encore-LP: 4,000,000 in US, 2,000,000 in the entire European continent, 420,000 in Australia, 50,000 in Mexico, 20,000 in Argentina. The total for these region is 6,500,000 in certified sales.
• Curtain Call-LP:2,000,000 in US, 2,000,000 in the entire European continent, 210,000 in Australia, 50,000 in Brazil. The total for these regions is 4,300,000.
• Relapse-LP I see no major certified sales yet. Just 70,000 in Australia and 10,000 in Austria, 30,000 in Switzerland, 15,000 in Belgium. So, not even 150,000 units for these regions.

As one can see, the certified sales figures for albums-when compared on individual bases-immediately disagree with the figures that are provided above for album sales.--Harout72 (talk) 18:02, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

I agree with Harout, that is not a reliable source for such a ridiculous claim.--Petergriffin9901 (talk) 23:47, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Ridiculous claim???? They are certainly not inflated. Interscope are not certifying Eminems albums at the moment thats why they haven't been certified yet!!, i can provide enougth links that prove the exact sales for all them albums listed above and could hunt down a few sites that prove the sales of the singles. It's pretty obvious that "Lose Yourself" being one of the most succesfull singles of all time has sold very much.

Eminem has sold over 80 Million albums[1], and well over 30 million singles/downloads, "Lose Yourself" and "Without Me" alone stack up over 12 million sales and thats just two of the many many singles.

[2]

[3]

[4] —Preceding unsigned comment added by AJS2050 (talk • contribs) 21:48, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Theres sources for his albums sales & i can provide proof of his singles sales if you want them???

AJS2050, I'll make two comments about your edits. First, do not remove other editors' comments as you have removed my comments in this edit of yours to make your comments more believable, that's vandalism and the next time you do that, you will be reported. Second, you need to learn to distinguish between reliable sources and unreliable sources. And none of your three recent sources can be regarded as reliable, not to mention that I don't see those three sources mentioning anything about 112 million records for Eminem, all I see is array of inflated album figures with an exception of the figure of 6 million for the album Curtain Call: The Hits in this source which correlates perfectly with what the certifications suggest.

By the way, when they state that Eminem has sold 80 million albums, they are speaking of his worldwide sales, which means albums, singles, videos. If he's sold as many singles as you believe, why would they choose to leave such a huge figure out and mention only album sales? Even the sum of the inflated albums-sales-figures within your unreliable sources above don't come anywhere close to 80 million, add up his inflated album-figures and see if for yourself that when Europe Music Awards in this source states 80 million albums, they mean all his records not albums only, although that's the term they use.--Harout72 (talk) 00:03, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Hey, i understand what your saying and i respect it all, but you have to realise that Eminems albums havent been certified since 2006. Curtain Call just recently on the soundscan website surpassed 3.0 million in the u.s. and yet is still only 2x platinum. "The Marhall Mathers LP" has sold over 10.1 million copies in the u.s. and is still awaiting diamond certification after 3 years. All the sales in the U.S. can be found on the soundscan website. Relapse is a great example, everyone knows it is the 2nd best selling album of 2009 in the u.s. this year so far, selling 1,533,000 copies so far, and yet hasn't been certified. As for worldwide, Relapse hasn't been certified in the UK, where it has sold almost 400,000 copies, and was the fastest selling album in the first 10 months of this year.

Eminem has sold 80 million albums, if you add the albums totals up without certifications you will see this. Singles/downloads sales are well above 12 million, as i said "Lose Yourself" and "Without Me" reached 6 million each, 12 weeks at number one on the billboard chart, not to mention the sales of other singles such as "The Real Slim Shady". That puts uncertified sales at over 92 million alone.

If anything i think they should change the title of this page and say, "Besy Selling Certified Music Artists", in which i would agree with your statement above, otherwise everything on the page, and i'm sure its the same for other artists aswell, is completly wrong. —Preceding unsigned comment added by AJS2050 (talk • contribs) 18:03, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

All records, once they reach either Gold or Platinum certification level, eventually do get certified, it may take some time but eventually they all appear within the certification databases. As for the title of this page, no, it is not based on certified sales; however, all submitted claimed figures are verified through certification databases to determine whether the claimed figures are correct or inflated for promotional purposes. By the way, in the future, you might want to support all your claimed sales figures with reliable sources rather than saying that they could be found here or they could be found there.--Harout72 (talk) 23:05, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Yeah i hope they do get certified soon, Relapse is not far from 2x Platinum and will hopefully get certified when it reaches 2.0 million at the end of the month, but i still doubt they will certify it anytime soon. —Preceding unsigned comment added by AJS2050 (talk • contribs) 15:29, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

I respect all the artist on the list but one other thing i was woundering was how come "abba" for an example, have total available certified sales at 42.6 million and yet to the side of that it displays 300 and 370 million?? and the links for these are just some news articles. How come these are classed as sources and yet when i show you a source from a news article claiming "the marshall mathers lp" selling 19 million+ you dismiss it?? are you being biased towards certain artists? thanks for helping with my enquiry. —Preceding unsigned comment added by AJS2050 (talk • contribs) 22:09, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

Cliff Richard

Where is Cliff in this list he has sold over 260 million records in a career spanning 51 years! Get him in the list. —Preceding unsigned comment added by JonathanCR (talk • contribs) 11:20, 6 December 2009 (UTC)

As it states within the box at the top of this discussion page: Artists without sufficient certifications to support published claimed figures may not be added to the list. Consequently, Cliff Richard will not be added to this list with a claimed figure of 250 million as the number of certifications he's gathered around the world do not suggest major sales. This is all the certified sales I see for Richard:

• UK sales 12.2 million records

• US sales 500,000

• German sales 250,000

• Canadian sales 200,000

• Dutch sales 80,000

• Finnish sales 25,000

• Norwegian sales 40,000

And I don't see any certified sales for Richard in the following markets: Switzerland, Austria, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina etc.. --Harout72 (talk) 17:23, 6 December 2009 (UTC)

Herbert von Karajan

What happened to him?

He has completely vanished after the re-vamp, despite being in the 200-500 million category on the old version.

He's the best-selling classical artist of all time; he shouldn't really be missed off. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.127.79.8 (talk) 15:20, 10 November 2009 (UTC)

If you or anyone could find some reliable sources that state a realistic figure then he will be added back. Mattg82 (talk) 01:32, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

Merge

There is a comparatively new duplicating article (List_of_best-selling_album_artists) which is under ongoing development, despite strong suggestions of delete or merge.

Possibly, some regulars from this page could have a look to avoid a degeneration into two contradictory or duplicating pages? 188.100.201.34 (talk) 02:11, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

The Monkees

In a t.v. interview with Davy Jones a few years back, talk show host Bill O'Reilly credited The Monkees with album sales of 65 million. What is their actual number? They are not showing in any categories which start at 50 million. Any explanation would be appreciated. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.200.132.69 (talk) 23:42, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

The Monkees' actual sales would possibly stagger somewhere between 35-40 million. They seem to have 22.5 million in certified sales from the US (RIAA), but their sales looks quite weak else where. I'm seeing only 260,000 in certified sales coming from the UK (BPI) and some 50,000 from Canada (CRIA). I can't find anymore certified sales for The Monkees in markets such as Germany, France, Finland, The Netherlands etc. etc.. So, considering the fact that their initial releases have seen light before many of the certification-based-markets were established in foreign countries, I would say that aside from their 22.5 million in US certified sales, The Monkees should have sold some 10-15 million outside of the States. Surely; however, their sales could have never reached 65 million as stated by O'Reilly.--Harout72 (talk) 01:06, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

The Jonas Brothers

They sold 1 billion worldwide they should be on the list. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.3.102.88 (talk) 00:40, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

sorry for the language my musically educated friends:

FUCK OFF little fangirl bitch and keep on sucking Jonas Dicks.

creepy jonas brother havent even sold 10 million copies dellusional fangirl —Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.116.10.38 (talk) 20:14, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

Backstreet Boys sales

They have sold a lot more than 100 million. Breaking it down, 40 million sales of millennium, 32 million for the combination of backstreet boys [U.S] and backstreet's back [International]. 24 million for black and blue, 15 million for the hits chapter one. 10 million for never gone, 8 million for backstreet boys [International] and nearly 2 million for unbreakanle. That is a total of nearly 131 million. Then add the sales of the new album this is us and the sales of the album for the fans and you're looking at an extra couple of million. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.212.121.242 (talk) 20:15, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

bob marley

where is bob marly sold 300 million albums

actually...even though bob marley is hugely known worldwide and has a massive lasting influence and his music is very widely known...he never did sell that many records. His compilation posthumous release 'Legend' was the only real big seller and that sold in the region of about 20-22 million worldwide. All up its likely that with available certifications and estimates, Marley only sold between 30-40 million records both before and after his death; despite how good his music is. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.214.189.105 (talk) 11:42, 6 December 2009 (UTC)

It is very true that Marley's sales could not have surpassed the 40 million boarder. As pointed out above, the number of certifications available for his records do not suggest anything close to 50 million in actual sales.--Harout72 (talk) 17:26, 6 December 2009 (UTC)

Nana Mouskouri out of date

Nana Mouskouri has been reported by the BBC of having sold 300 million. The 200 million referenced is from a much older article. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7523827.stm Filastin (talk) 23:33, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

The 200 million is also by BBC, only from 2003. Are we saying that Mouskouri has sold another 100 million within a period of six years. That sounds rather ludicrous, don't you think considering that she barely has enough certified sales within the databases to support even 10 million in sales. But thank you for bringing the reference above to my attention, which now convinced me that her record company has steadily tried to inflate her figures just to be able to jump start her sales. That said, I may have to begin to consider removing Mouskouri from the list altogether as it's becoming quite clear that even the 200 million has been tossed about for promotional purposes. --Harout72 (talk) 00:21, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

The point I'm making is that numbers are far easier to get now. Over the past four years, quite a lot has changed in terms of data gathering as well as the huge downloads boost. I'm not saying it's even got her a few million nevermind 100, but we don't have a figure for any artist that can be confirmed by anyone. Maybe the first number was odd or maybe it's 250 million, it's besides the point. To be honest, I belive that the most up to date sources should be used, especially if they're on the same site. Another thing is that record companies may blow things up, but the only choice we have is to use up to date sources from so-called 'credible' media, and the BBC has given no back-source, so changing it to the 300 brings the position forward that it just has to be changed. Removing Mouskouri would mean removing everyone else, all record companies blow things up. Wether we consider the BBC a reputible source or not on this site backs us in a corner somewhat... to remove Mouskouri or not change it would mean reviewing most sources on this page, or just deleting it. In a nutshell, most of this page will be verging on crap in terms of numbers, but there's no choice really.Filastin (talk) 03:02, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

Record companies definitely inflate figures to boost sales, not maybe. And yes, there is a way to check and see whether the claimed figures are close to the actual sales or not. There are certification databases available to us, and databases of most important markets-with exception of the Japanese market's database-are listed in a box at the top of this discussion page. Regardless of the fact that Mouskouri has begun her career some 10-15 years before lot of the countries established their certification-based-markets-with exception of the US market which has been around since '58-we still should have seen awfully lot of certified sales within the databases had even the 200 million been a true figure, such; however, is not the case. This is all the certified sales I see for Mouskouri:

• Canadian certified sales since 1975: 1,050,000
• German certified sales since 1975: 1,500,000
• UK certified sales since 1973: 220,000
• Dutch certified sales since 1978: 100,000
• Argentinean certified sales since 1980: 180,000
• French certified sales since 1968: albums: 2,200,000, Singles :500,000.
• French total sales for Mouskouri since 1955: 13,352,000

I believe, it's clear that Moukouri's actual sales has never even passed the 100 million boarder. Having said that, I am entirely against using the newer figure. We need to keep the figures at this page as logical as we possibly can. By the way, most, if not all artists' sales figures have by now been scrutinized through the mentioned databases.--Harout72 (talk) 06:42, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

The problem is, keeping figures logical means keeping them badly referenced. It's a lose-lose situation. The bext thing to do is in smaller text below the more realistic figure to add the newer references. It's a bit silly not including it, considering it's from the same news source... Filastin (talk) 22:12, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

There really is nothing silly about it when Mouskouri's lack of certifications do not suggest any major sales such as 200 million, let alone 300 million. Viewing it as badly referenced is incorrect, as all of the artists on the page are supported by highly reliable sources. This is not the first time that I am seeing the same news service publishing two very different figures for the same artist, with the dates of the articles not far apart. Therefore, in order for us to go with the one that is closer to artists' actual sales, we need to verify the figures through certification-databases. And in the case of Mouskouri, even the 200 million is inflated, but closer to her actual sales in comparison with the 300 million.--Harout72 (talk) 22:22, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

Added Polish ZPAV

I've added Polish ZPAV to the box at the top. Clicking on Złote płyty (Gold CD), Platynowe płyty (Platinum CD) and Diamentowe płyty (Diamond CD), will give a list of CDs with those certs. Mattg82 (talk) 01:32, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

Donna Summer

most sources definitely agree around 130 million. i think she should be on that list somewhere. Disco music was a $4 billion industry and she was its 'queen'.

Teresa Teng

She needs to be deleted from here I think. This source (The Independent) states 22 million albums, while stating another 50-75 million in pirate sales. This list doesn't count pirate sales ? Plus I can't see any certifications anywhere. Mattg82 (talk) 22:48, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

I removed Teng from the list. Thanks for bringing that source to my attention.--Harout72 (talk) 23:59, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

Prince mention??

Wikipedia itself says Prince has sold "more than 100 million records" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_discography), yet I do not see him anywhere on the list. Since the article's locked, could someone please edit it to include him. If Wikipedia cannot cite itself, we should find another source. (Mauri96 (talk) 04:28, 10 December 2009 (UTC))