Sources: Yahoo |
As Usher would say, “Yeah!” The R&B superstar has sold 20.4 million albums since January 2000, a total topped in this time frame by only one R&B artist — the late Michael Jackson. Here are the 10 R&B artists (excluding rap and hip-hop) who have sold the most albums in the 2000s, according to Nielsen SoundScan. (Note: If you were to combine Beyoncé and Destiny’s Child, Queen B would zoom to the top of the list.) – Paul Grein
1. Michael Jackson (23.8 million albums)
Jackson, who died in June 2009, has had two #1 albums on The Billboard 200 since 2000:
Invincible and the soundtrack from the posthumously released
Michael Jackson’s This is It. He would have had a third with the hits compilation
Number Ones, which was the best-selling album in the U.S. for six weeks following his death, but catalog albums weren’t allowed on the big chart at the time. Jackson received the Video Vanguard Award at the VMAs in 1988. In 1991, the award was renamed in his honor. Jackson was awarded a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy in 2010.
2. Usher (20.4 million)
Usher has landed all four of his #1 albums —
Confessions,
Here I Stand,
Raymond V Raymond, and
Looking 4 Myself—since 2000.
Confessions is the only non-rap R&B album to sell 10 million copies in the U.S. since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991.
3. Alicia Keys (18.4 million)
Keys has sold more albums than any other female solo R&B artist in the 2000s. Also, she has sold more albums than any other R&B artist who made his, her or their debut in the 2000s. Keys has won 15 Grammys since 2000, second only to Beyoncé among (non-rap) R&B artists in this time frame. Keys is one of two artists to win Best New Artist at both the Grammys and the BET Awards. (John Legend is the other.) Keys is one of three R&B artists to have amassed five #1 albums since 2000.
4. Mariah Carey (16.7 million)
Two of Carey’s six #1 albums —
The Emancipation Of Mimiand
E=MC2 — have come since 2000. Even so, Carey sold more than twice as many albums (37.7 million) from 1991 through 1999 than she has since 2000.
5. R. Kelly (16.0 million)
Five of R. Kelly’s six #1 albums —
TP-2.com,
Chocolate Factory,
Unfinished Business (a collabo with Jay Z),
TP.3 Reloaded, and
Double Up — have come since 2000. R. Kelly is the only male R&B artist to have amassed five #1 albums since 2000.
6. Beyoncé (15.5 million)
Beyoncé has won 17 Grammys since 2000, more than any other (non-rap) R&B artist in this period. Beyoncé received a VMA for Video of the Year in 2009 for “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It).”In 2014, she received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the VMAs. Beyoncé is second only to Keys as the top-selling R&B artist who made his, her or their debut in the 2000s. (Of course, Beyoncé had huge success with Destiny’s Child before she launched her solo career in 2003.) Beyoncé’s first five solo albums all reached #1. She’s one of three R&B artists to have amassed five #1 albums since 2000.
7. Mary J. Blige (15.4 million)
Three of Blige’s four #1 albums —
Love & Life,
The Breakthrough, and
Growing Pains — have come since 2000. Blige has lived up to her title as the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul.
8. Destiny’s Child (15.4 million)
The quartet-turned-trio is the only group or duo to rank among the top 10 R&B acts of the 2000s. The act landed both of its #1 albums —
Survivor and the hits compilation
#1’s — since 2000.
9. Luther Vandross (11.0 million)
Vandross landed his only #1 album,
Dance With My Father, in June 2003. Vandross won four Grammys for the album, including Song of the Year for the title song (which he co-wrote with Richard Marx). The R&B great died in July 2005 at age 54.
10. Prince (10.9 million)
The Purple One has landed just one of his four #1 albums,
3121, since 2000. Prince received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the BET Awards in 2010. Prince’s debut album,
For You, was released in April 1978. Of the 10 artists on this list, only Michael Jackson made his debut earlier.