It is obviously Elvis Presley. No one has sold as many records as this guy. No one comes close i imagine.

2) The beatles
3) Michael Jackson
4) Frank Sinatra
5) Rolling stones?

What u reckon? No doubt Elvis is no 1 right?

thesexofit said:

Is Elvis the Biggest Selling Recording Artist? - Sorting Out Records Sales Stats & RIAA Rules

"What has caused the most grievance amongst Elvis fans in recent times, are the various announcements regarding Garth Brooks and the Beatles as being “best selling solo artist of all time” and “ all time best selling artist.” As passionate producers of Elvis re-issues for more than a decade, we are not afraid of opposing RIAA president Hilary Rosen for her statement about Garth Brooks. If Rosen is not aware of the inaccuracy of her statement, then at least people in her organization should be. RCA has on numerous occasions laid before the RIAA the Elvis sales figures it has available – and it’s crystal clear that RCA can prove higher sales than Garth Brooks quoted sales of 100 million. However Hilary Rosen is absolutely right when she has Garth topping the lists according to the accepted rules of RIAA certifications. The RIAA has agreed with the record companies on the procedure regarding this and they in return accepted that the RIAA is the impartial judge of all matters regarding certifications.

So why do Elvis' achievements look less than Beatles, Brooks and Led Zeppelin?

Information about accounting methods:

1. The basis for RIAA’s overall artist announcements totally exclude singles of which Elvis is the true king. When Elvis changed the sales standards of pop music, singles were the normal product. In 1956 Elvis first album sold 300,000 thousand copies and his single of Hound Dog and Don't Be Cruel sold more than 3 million in comparison.

2. The ongoing modifications that the RIAA has made to adjust to new sales conditions and trends, include a number of different pricing parameters, that eliminate or reduce a substantial number of Elvis sales – including the dismissal of more than 1 million units of Elvis' Christmas Album from 1970. The Beatles and Garth Brooks have not been affected in the same way. Likewise double albums count as one or two certifiable units depending on playing time. This again hurts Elvis, as the limit is 100 minutes, and a double album in the days of vinyl records could not hold 100 minutes with sacrificing the sound. This means that classic Presley albums like Aloha from Hawaii and Elvis in Concert only count as single albums.

3. The RIAA certifications are based on documented sales figures and in the case of older artists these figures simply do not exist any more. In the case of Elvis the RCA figures are incomplete, most importantly sales during the 12 months after Elvis' death are unaccounted for. BILLBOARD wrote in September 1977 that RCA shipped 20 million records a week. They had as many as 40 pressing plants working overtime to cope with the demand. RCA November releases were postponed, in order to supply Elvis product and at one time during the period more than 1/3 of all sales in the country market was Elvis Presley product. On top of this tens of millions of records sold through outside companies including record clubs, are mainly unaccounted for in RIAA totals.

4. The RIAA certifies U.S. sales whereas Elvis Presley is a truly international artist. The RIAA does not count any sales of any artist outside the U.S.A. As an example It's Now Or Never sold 1.2 million in England alone, as much as it did in the US. Elvis’ combined international sales of over 400 million units are a unique achievement. (It is estimated that Elvis has sold over 600 million units in the USA and over 400 million units in all other countries combined for a total of over one billion units sold worldwide.)

5. Math for Music Lovers – The Summary

Current RIAA album certification count: Elvis Presley 86.5 Garth Brooks 100 The Beatles 150

The RIAA counts only certifiable round numbers: 500,000 for GOLD and full millions for platinum and multiple platinum. This means that the 1,012,088 sales of Elvis NBC TV Special counts as much as the 1,922,601 of You'll Never Walk Alone: one million RIAA Sales - i.e. 922,601 of the latter are not counted.

You might argue that these conditions are the same for all artists, which indeed they are, but because of the ever changing ways of releasing music over the past decades, the consequences are quite remarkable in that the more albums you have released, the more sales you lose by being under and in between levels. Garth Brooks reached his figures with only 12 releases, which means he could ONLY have 12 x 999,999 lost sales, where as Beatles has 36 platinum albums and a theoretical loss three times as high as Garth Brooks. The staggering number of Elvis albums released over the past 45 years means that his “lost” sales by RIAA accounting are astronomic compared to his main competitors.

For the purpose of this exercise, if we average the numbers and say all artists will be credited 500,000 extra sales for records between the various platinum levels, the figures look like this based on the artists current number of certified albums:

Elvis 43 Platinum x 500,000 = 21.5 mil. New Total: 109

Beatles 36 Platinum x 500,000 = 18.0 mil. New Total: 168

Garth 12 Platinum x 500,000 6.0 mil. New Total: 106

If we take that one step further and add 250,000 units as an average on all Gold albums(half of the difference between 500,000 and 999.,999, we find that The Beatles and Garth Brooks have only albums that have platinum status and therefore get no additional figures:

Elvis 38 Gold x 250,000 = 9.5 mil. New Total: 118.5

Beatles 0 Gold = 0 New Total: 168

Garth Brooks 0 Gold = 0 New Total: 106

If we go one step further and award the average 250,000 to albums that haven’t reached gold status, it becomes VERY interesting because neither The Beatles nor Garth Brooks have any albums that have not been certified. Elvis, however, has more than 200 non-certified.

Elvis 220 Uncertified = 55 New Total: 173.5

Beatles 0 Uncertified = 0 New Total: 168

Garth Brooks 0 Uncertified = 0 New Total: 106

After this exercise we need to go back and add the many Elvis albums that were released by other companies through special license arrangements with RCA. None of these sales are accounted for in RIAA totals. In 1978 Brooklandville Marketing announced sales of over 2 million sets of the double album they had licensed from RCA, and in general these heavily marketed albums sold very large numbers. Then we should add the missing RCA numbers sold in the 12 months after his death and the 81 million singles we can document, the RIAA statement reaches the absolute absurdity.

A different angle to all of this, that keeps getting ignored is that it’s so much easier to achieve high sales figures in today’s mass consumption market, than it was back in the ‘50s. When Elvis’ first album Elvis Presley sold 300,000 in the spring of 1956 – it set a new record for a popular album – and it was the album of that year. Today, the best selling album of the year, as well as several runners-up, will easily sell over 10 million copies in the US alone – the Beatles 1 sold a million in just one week this past Christmas. Does this mean that the Beatles are at the height of their career? – No, it means music as a mass consumer product has reached new sales heights. In 1956 sales of long-playing records were marginal and priced beyond the financial means of many. In 2001, you could see people buy as many as 5-10 CDs at one time.

Elvis achieved incredible sales in the ‘50s before the LP was an established commercial art form. His recordings were released over and over again on numerous singles, EPs, albums and CDs. So whereas the controlled release policy of The Beatles repertoire worked fine towards RIAA certifications, Elvis’ classic songs were spread over as many as 30 or 40 releases. To give you an example, Elvis’ version of Blue Christmas has combined documented sales figures of over 20 million copies and it’s by no means one of his biggest recordings. The future may require completely different ways of measuring sales, when downloading of individual recordings will be an accepted way of selling music. This again would mean for the RIAA to change their certification criteria and suddenly the sales figures of individual cuts may be the way to judge an artist’s success.

CONCLUSIONS

To summarize, no statistics should ever make us feel different about Elvis or any other artist. We don’t judge Chopin, Charlie Parker or Bob Dylan by their sales figures. We ask of the RIAA to be more factual and accurate with their press releases. Garth Brooks is not the best selling solo artist of all time, but he is the highest certified album artist in the US, according to the rules of the RIAA and his achievement should be congratulated. Only a fraction of Elvis Presley’s sales are captured by the RIAA but in spite of all Elvis is still their most certified artist! As consultants to RCA Records we are 100% convinced that Elvis is the biggest selling artist of all time - we hope you are, too!"

- Roger Semon & Ernst Mikael Jørgensen
[Edited 1/9/05 9:58am]
[Edited 1/9/05 9:59am]

It depends on whether u r talking about America only , or the whole world! In America im guessing its either The Beatles, Elvis, Garth. Worldwide, the record is held by Michael Jackson (if u include his entire career not just Off the Wall-The Ultimate Collection).

Its also worth noting that the way records are counted has changed considerably throughout the years in Europe and America and therefore when people say Elvis has sold 300million worldwide, they are talking albums and singles (records) together, when people say MJ sold 300 million worldwide they are talking albums only because counting worldwide sales of MJ singles is virtually impossible.

I cannot c Jacko outselling Elvis. back in Elvis' day, singles prbetly wern't counted or albums. Certainly the beatles album and single sales seem to vary.

Elvis was worldwide too u know!

MJ doesn't come close i'm afraid. If you count 17 + 55 + 25 + 25 + 30 + 5 + 10 + 5 (i know, all are disputable) you get like 172million. Worldwide sales. So even if you count every single Jackson 5/Jacksons album you'll never hit the 300million mark. Probably not even 250. The Beatles and Elvis were/are big worldwide. I'm sure Garth Brooks would fall behind though

thesexofit said:[quote]It is obviously Elvis Presley. No one has sold as many records as this guy. No one comes close i imagine.

2) The beatles
3) Michael Jackson
4) Frank Sinatra
5) Rolling stones?

6) Usher

Elvis Prestley
The Beatles
ABBA
Michael Jackson ...

SpcMs said:

To the best of my knowledge The Jacksons/Jackson 5 have sold over 100m records worldwide so it couldn't be that far off 300m.

IF you count The Jackson 5 / The Jacksons (as all MJ fans who want to inflate his numbers do), THEN you must count:

a) Paul McCartney & The Wings
b) ALL Beatles solo careers

SO - no competition - sorry!
[Edited 1/9/05 13:09pm]

I think u all just ignored the very point i made, that the 300million Elvis "RECORDS" are mostly made up of single sales because back in the day, singles actually sold more than LPS!Also Elvis is no where near "worldwide" as u say, he only became a worldwide marketing phenomenon after he died! Is it not true that Elvis never toured or even ventured outside America, so therefore, how could they promote his records in Japan/China/Eastern Europe without the internet, without MTV or any music video art form, even without video/dvd/colour television in the early days.

Also taking into consideration the fact that most of Elvis' album sales are made up of Greatest Hits compilations which continue to be released year on year.

Im not trying to show my love for Michael Jackson here, or trying to say that he is better than Elvis, im simply stating the facts as we know them. Michael Jackson is officially more successful than Elvis on a worldwide basis. The 172million stated below is a gross underestimation, i would say more like 20-59-28(official)-29-30-5-10-7 = 188million! You also have the early MJ albums like Ben/Got to be There/Music and Me/Farewell my Summer Love along with other non counted albums like Greatest Hits Vol 1 (which has sold over 500,000 in US alone), you also have the 100million (latest official sales) from the J5 era and also the Jacksons Albums - Destiny, Triumph, Victory and if u are being really psycho 2300 Jackson St! Those album sales alone are well over 300 million!

Elvis has not reached those album sales figures im afraid because his US sales are only 86million, he simply was never popular enough throughout the rest of the world to merit another 230 million sales.

FunkyBrotha said:

(1) Uh, no.

(2) Can't believe I'm actually reading this.

(3) Also not true. Elvis' LPs were massive sellers in the 50's and 60's - and there were literally DOZENS of them.
[Edited 1/9/05 13:21pm]

The Beatles solo stuff, while great, never sold much. Check john’s great albums, at best they sold up to two million....Sentimental Journey? Can someone get me figures on ringo?

The worst thing a Black man could do was to break a sales record, now we can't stop hearing about his album sales or lack there of.

Eagles Greatest Hits

I have to say, however, that the Beatles are probably more competition for Jacko on the sales argument but i dont really have much knowledge of their album sales worldwide. They could be up there, or ahead of MJ on that front but all in all, does it really matter! This whole argument can never really be settled because there are all different factors coming in2 play here. It would be much easier if we settled on

1 The Biggest Selling Band in the World - The Beatles
2 The Biggest Selling Pop Star (King of Pop) - Michael Jackson
3 The Biggest Selling RnR Star (King of Rock n Roll) - Elvis

and not to be sexist

4 The Biggest Selling Female - Madonna

lilgish said:

Lennon sells about 250,000 records/year. When there is no compilation like #1's, the Beatles sell about 2 million/year (as detailed by Forbes magazine).

McCartney had the biggest solo career by far, with nine #1 hits and seven #1 albums over 12 years (his sales didn't slow until the late 80's, but have picked up in the past 5 years - his most recent went double platinum). McCartney has been awarded 17 gold albums in the U.K. (and 20 in the US)

Some more Beatles sales trivia:

-Guinness reported sales of 545 million records from 1963-74.

-Let It Be (album) had the largest initial sales in US record history up to that time. 3.7 million advance orders

-Hey Jude had worldwide sales of 5 million in '68 and 7.5 million by '72.
[Edited 1/9/05 13:42pm]

FunkyBrotha said:

5 The Biggest Selling Icelandic Artist - Björk

Oh, and just to let everyone know, Jailhouse Rock is the new #1 in the UK this week.

My guess would be the list would be

Elvis
Michael Jackson
The Beatles
Garth Brooks
Madonna

Singles would be

Elvis
Madonna
The Beatles

ABBA sold around 400 million albums!!!

So you gotta name them on your lists!!!

VoicesCarry said:

Stax said:

Lodger said:

and thus the pointlessness of this thread is exposed , if sales were that important, you'd be listing artists like the aforementioned, pat boone, and britney spears alongside elvis, the beatles etc...

I assume it's probably Elvis, keeping in mind that many releases that are in bargin bins that probably don't get offically counted. I think it's Elvis.

jacktheimprovident said:

Britney Spears has sold 300 million records? News to me....

FunkyBrotha said:

5 The Biggest Selling Reggae Star (King of Reggae) - Bob Marley

FunkyBrotha said:

5 The Biggest Selling Male of Vatican - The Pope: John Paul, II

Good luck in trying to find the answer to this question.There are many contradictory answers,record sales figures are often inflated,and it all depends if you're talking about worldwide sales or just the U.S.(many people assume that only U.S. sales matter,lol).This topic can be debated over and over and we still can't seem to get a clear answer.

I still say Elvis. Man has sold more since he died then when alive. And man was he big (ha) when he was alive.

Imagine if Elvis ever toured the world? Proberly another 100 million to his sales.....

Elvis has sold the most Worldwide. We're not talking about just North America. WORLDWIDE. That's more important. Elvis has sold over 1 Billion worldwide.

WOW. 1 billion.....geesas christ.