prince is currently 33rd in the list of best selling album artists in us history with 36.5 million official sales of all his albums...here is the top 40.
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Top Artists

Totals are derived from cumulative album sales totals (U.S. only)

Artist
Certified Units (in Millions)

BEATLES, THE
164.5

LED ZEPPELIN
106.0

BROOKS, GARTH
105.0

PRESLEY, ELVIS
103.0

EAGLES
86.0

JOEL, BILLY
77.5

PINK FLOYD
73.5

STREISAND, BARBRA
70.0

JOHN, ELTON
67.5

AEROSMITH
63.5

ROLLING STONES, THE
63.5

AC/DC
63.0

MADONNA
60.0

SPRINGSTEEN, BRUCE
58.5

JACKSON, MICHAEL
58.0

CAREY, MARIAH
57.0

METALLICA
56.0

HOUSTON, WHITNEY
54.0

STRAIT, GEORGE
53.5

VAN HALEN
50.5

ROGERS, KENNY
50.5

DIAMOND, NEIL
50.0

FLEETWOOD MAC
48.5

KENNY G
47.5

U2
47.0

ALABAMA
46.0

DION, CELINE
45.5

SANTANA
42.5

JOURNEY
40.0

NELSON, WILLIE
39.0

CLAPTON, ERIC
38.5

CHICAGO
37.0

PRINCE
36.5

SIMON & GARFUNKEL
36.0

BACKSTREET BOYS
36.0

FOREIGNER
36.0

2 PAC
35.5

GUNS 'N ROSES
35.5

MC ENTIRE, REBA
35.0

BON JOVI
33.5

Zep above Presley and Brooks...Oh my, that's cool.

Aint it just. Because Led Zeppelin aren't part of crummy popular culture in the way that say, Queen, are, it tends to come as a surprise that they've sold so many records. I'm pleased to see that the Stones have sold so many; I'd read that it was more like 40m, and that (the also great) AC/DC had sold more. Nice to see my old boys Van Halen have sold more than the pompous U2. Where is this list from?

Who are Alabama and George Strait?

And the fact that Kenny G has sold more albums than Prince PROVES that there is no God.

That is one scary list i mean most of the worst artists ever are up at the top, also mj with only 58 million, i take it that excludes the jackson 5 and the jacksons because if thriller is at 28million in the US, that means that the other dozen albums only sold about 30million combined!

he's sold about 50million in the UK, i guess the US dont like MJ post thriller!

also, prince on 36.5 was a pleasant surprise but i take it this excludes everything post rave because they were all independant releases, surely TRC, ONA, ONA LIVE, NEWS and RAVE IN2 combined have sold over half a million???

FunkyBrotha said:

its not done strictly on sales, its certifications, platinum gold etc. so none of them will count. plus only purple rain by prince has been updated for fucking years so i imagine he will have sold more than that!

plus are you sure MJ has sold 50million in UK? or were you just exagerrating! thriller didnt even top 5 million so where did the rest come from!

thriller is at 4 million, bad 5 million, dangerous 3.5million, history 2 million, BOTD, 1 million, invincible 1 million, OTW 2.5million and im giving about a round figure of 10 million for all previous albums and stuff such as Greatest Hits - History vol 1 and The Very Best of Michael Jackson, Ben, etc

That adds up to 29-30 million if you also include sales of No1s which is sitting at 250,000 so far!

Maybe i was exaggerating but 30million albums in a country of 50million population is fairly amazing!

58million in a country of 350million people isnt quite the same!