Talk:List of best-selling music artists

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edit

It is essential to provide reliable sources when editing this article. For examples, see the references section. Unsourced or unreliably sourced additions will be removed immediately.

The list is frequently edited in good faith to update the certified sales figures; however, claimed sales figures need to be supported by reliable sources, preferably from news organizations.

Artists with claimed sales figures below 75 million may not be added to the list.

Whilst we encourage editors to be bold, it is highly recommended to discuss changes on this talk page before editing.

Below you can get an understanding as to when certifications for songs are added to the total certified sales of the listed artists.

One lead artist and one featured artist. (The issued certification(s) should be added to the total of both, the lead artist and the featured artist as both will have almost equal amount of part).
Two lead artists. (The issued certification(s) should be added to the total of both lead artists as both will have almost equal amount of part).
Two lead artists and one featured artist. (The issued certification(s) should be added to the total of both lead artists as well as the featured artist. Both lead artists will play a significant part in a song and the part of the featured artist also should be significant enough).
One lead artist and two featured artists. (The issued certification(s) should be added to the total of the lead artist and to the total of both featured artists as almost all should have equal amount of part).

The year next to markets below indicates how far back the certification systems go in each country. The percentages stand for the global market share based on a 2007 IFPI report.

USA: RIAA (1958) (31.6%)
Japan: RIAJ (Physical certifications since (1989)(16.5%)
UK: BPI (1973) (10.6%)
Germany: BVMI (1975) (8.4%)
France: SNEP, Infodisc (albums), Infodisc (singles) (1973) (5.8%)
Australia: ARIA (1990) (2.23%)
Canada: Music Canada (1975) (2.22)
Italy: FIMI (2009) (1.95%)
The Netherlands: NVPI (1978) (1.52%)
Spain: PROMUSICAE (1979) (1.48%)
Austria: IFPI (1990) (1.10%)
Mexico: AMPROFON (1999) (1.08%)
Brazil: PMB (1990) (0.97%)
Belgium: Ultratop (1995) (0.91%)
Norway: (Archived certification-database) (1993) (0.86%)
Switzerland: Schweizer Hitparade (1989) (0.84%)
Sweden: IFPI (Archived certification-database), Sverige Topplistan (Chart-database) (1987) (0.81%)
Denmark: Hitlisten (Chart-database), IFPI Denmark (2001) (0.67%)
Ireland: IRMA (2005) (0.52%)
Poland: ZPAV (1995) (0.51%)
Finland: IFPI (1971) (0.49%)
Argentina: Capif (1980) (0.48%)
New Zealand: Recorded Music NZ (1978) (0.37%)

Lady Gaga 170 million records

The US President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities website now cites Lady Gaga's sales as 170 million. Her current certified total is over 163 million so this is a better estimate than the outdated 124 million one.

Cited here: https://www.imls.gov/pcah/lady-gaga and here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/04/13/president-biden-announces-key-appointments-to-boards-and-commissions-23/

Older links with the same total: https://web.archive.org/web/20220705193602/https://www.attitude.co.uk/article/lady-gaga-became-singer-after-multiple-failed-acting-auditions/19231/ SpearsRR (talk) 23:22, 2 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

And must be added the new certification in Poland and in Italy — Preceding unsigned comment added by 151.21.148.176 (talk) 07:17, 12 May 2023 (UTC) New certification in Germany for Love game e Always remember as this way. Both gold. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 31.190.216.146 (talk) 17:26, 2 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Lady Gaga 170 million records sold should be updated. The US government is an much betteer source than most of the sources used for other artists — Preceding unsigned comment added by 177.85.28.146 (talk) 17:45, 2 June 2023 (UTC) Always remember as this way is now certified double Platinum in italy — Preceding unsigned comment added by 31.190.216.146 (talk) 14:37, 12 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

In the uk, shallow is now 5 platinum — Preceding unsigned comment added by 31.190.216.146 (talk) 17:31, 16 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

elton john

elton johns tally in the states has not change in an age cold heart has been cert at over two million not been counted plus with fwybr tour sales of gh and streaming of his songs must be 4 million plus 121.75.198.109 (talk) 09:02, 22 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Why is Kylie Minogue not on this list?

She has sold 80 million records. KARANSUTTA (talk) 22:38, 28 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Miley Cyrus

Why is she the only relevant female artist missing here? There are people here with 25m certified units. she has far more than that. arround 100m? can anyone fix this 2A0C:5A80:250B:5900:B9AD:4B77:CBA3:DFFF (talk) 15:59, 2 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

German certs

First and foremost, I’d like to thank everyone who contributed to this article, though I noticed that BVMI has re-certified tons of old records throughout Q1 and most of Q2 2023, and it seems that some artists’ record sales in this list aren’t upgraded with the recent updated certifications provided by BVMI, if I wanted to, I’d have done those upgrades by myself but unfortunately I don’t have time. For an easy layout you can check the monthly data reports made by BVMI here. Moh8213 (talk) 17:30, 2 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Mariah Carey Japan

Update 21,750,000 Chacravartim (talk) 00:57, 18 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]