According to Nielsen SoundScan : A Breakdown of Beyonce’s US & Worldwide Album Sales

One of the biggest unanswered questions in today’s music world is exactly how many albums did Beyoncé sell? Well! According to Nielsen SoundScan report for the week of Nov 3rd, Beyoncé has sold 17.7 million albums in the US (pure sales). Once stream & track equivalent album are factored in, this brings her US album sales to 26.1 million albums. Here is a breakdown of each album:

Dangerously in Love (2003)
Billboard 200, Peak Position: #1
US Sales: 5.1 million
US Sales w/ SEA & TEA: 6 million
Worldwide Sales: 16 million

B’day (2006)
Billboard 200, Peak Position: #1
US Sales: 3.8 million
US Sales w/ SEA & TEA: 4.3 million
Worldwide Sales: 12 million

I Am…Sasha Fierce (2008)
Billboard 200, Peak Position: #1
US Sales: 3.4 million
US Sales w/ SEA & TEA: 6.4 million
Worldwide Sales: 16 million

4 (2011)
Billboard 200, Peak Position: #1
US Sales: 1.5 million
US Sales w/ SEA & TEA: 3.4 million
Worldwide Sales: 5 million

BEYONCE (2013)
Billboard 200, Peak Position: #1
US Sales: 2.4 million
US Sales w/ SEA & TEA: 4.5 million
Worldwide Sales: 8 million

LEMONADE (2016)
Billboard 200, Peak Position: #1
US Sales: 1.5 million
US Sales w/ SEA & TEA: 2.1 million
Worldwide Sales: 4 million

Beyonce has sold over 26.1 million albums in the US and approximately 60 million albums worldwide. This total does not include Destiny’s Child album sales (18.6 million albums in the US & 40 million albums worldwide). RIAA hasn’t updated the certifications for Beyonce and other artist. In order for a record to be certified, it has to be requested by the artist, someone on the artist team, or the record label. Nielsen Soundscan is the only source that counts record sales in the US. Billboard ranks albums according to record sales.

Source: Nielsen SoundScan Report (Week of Nov 3rd). Writer submitted record sale data report of official numbers obtained directly from Nielsen Soundscan and submitted it to the Huffington post for the validity of this article.

http://www.huffingtonpost...1f5257a471

Those numbers aren't that impressive for a star of her stature with such a lengthy career.

how does soundscan know ww sales if they only track us sales? i really dont understand the whole streaming thing, you basically pay 10 bucks a month to listen to whatever you want, how is that considered record sales? they need to have a streaming chart seperate from sales, the billboard 200 chart should be based on actual sales period. one week beyonce had more pure sales than drake but he had some ridiculous streaming number so he held the #1 spot over her, i dont think its fair, record sales = actually owning music.

MotownSubdivision said:

Those numbers aren't that impressive for a star of her stature with such a lengthy career.

Thats true but it also just goes to show its not really all about the hits because someone like rhianna who has sold more and has tons of hits is alot less revered than beyonce. Its interesting, I think her stature comes from how she seems to seprate herself from her contemporaries with live performance. she really has no one to challegne her and light fire under her ass. Ala beatles-beach boys pearl jam-nivana mj -prince etc.

heathilly said:

MotownSubdivision said:

Those numbers aren't that impressive for a star of her stature with such a lengthy career.

Thats true but it also just goes to show its not really all about the hits because someone like rhianna who has sold more and has tons of hits is alot less revered than beyonce. Its interesting, I think her stature comes from how she seems to seprate herself from her contemporaries with live performance. she really has no one to challegne her and light fire under her ass. Ala beatles-beach boys pearl jam-nivana mj -prince etc.

Yeah but I doubt Beyonce is as revered as she is solely because of her live performances. She has fierce competition in Bruno Mars on that front but he arrived on the scene over a decade late; Beyonce is a veteran at this point and she can coast on her status now. Even so, there aren't any real or perceived "rivalries" in mainstream music anymore outside of hip hop (and even then there aren't any definitive rivals in the genre; beefs have never been more petty than today and everybody eats whatever passes as such up because of such a scarcity).

There's much more to an artist's success besides album sales but for as big a star as Beyonce is hyped up to be, her sales ain't anything to gawk over. They're healthy but not noteworthy.

First week sales of new R&B albums from the 3 biggest r&b acts of the 2000-2009 decade.

Lemonade 485,000

Here (Alicia Keys) 42,000

Hard II Love (Usher) 28,000

MotownSubdivision said:

heathilly said:

Thats true but it also just goes to show its not really all about the hits because someone like rhianna who has sold more and has tons of hits is alot less revered than beyonce. Its interesting, I think her stature comes from how she seems to seprate herself from her contemporaries with live performance. she really has no one to challegne her and light fire under her ass. Ala beatles-beach boys pearl jam-nivana mj -prince etc.

Yeah but I doubt Beyonce is as revered as she is solely because of her live performances. She has fierce competition in Bruno Mars on that front but he arrived on the scene over a decade late; Beyonce is a veteran at this point and she can coast on her status now. Even so, there aren't any real or perceived "rivalries" in mainstream music anymore outside of hip hop (and even then there aren't any definitive rivals in the genre; beefs have never been more petty than today and everybody eats whatever passes as such up because of such a scarcity).

There's much more to an artist's success besides album sales but for as big a star as Beyonce is hyped up to be, her sales ain't anything to gawk over. They're healthy but not noteworthy.

concise and well put I agree.

MotownSubdivision said:

heathilly said:

Thats true but it also just goes to show its not really all about the hits because someone like rhianna who has sold more and has tons of hits is alot less revered than beyonce. Its interesting, I think her stature comes from how she seems to seprate herself from her contemporaries with live performance. she really has no one to challegne her and light fire under her ass. Ala beatles-beach boys pearl jam-nivana mj -prince etc.

Yeah but I doubt Beyonce is as revered as she is solely because of her live performances. She has fierce competition in Bruno Mars on that front but he arrived on the scene over a decade late; Beyonce is a veteran at this point and she can coast on her status now. Even so, there aren't any real or perceived "rivalries" in mainstream music anymore outside of hip hop (and even then there aren't any definitive rivals in the genre; beefs have never been more petty than today and everybody eats whatever passes as such up because of such a scarcity).

There's much more to an artist's success besides album sales but for as big a star as Beyonce is hyped up to be, her sales ain't anything to gawk over. They're healthy but not noteworthy.

concise and well put I agree.

Hudson said:

First week sales of new R&B albums from the 3 biggest r&b acts of the 2000-2009 decade.

Lemonade 485,000

Here (Alicia Keys) 42,000

Hard II Love (Usher) 28,000

Edit: I read over this post fast, this is referring to R&B acts. But regardless here are the receipts for the biggest first week sales of this year.

The official first-week sales figure for Drake's Views album has arrived. Views sold 852,000 copies in the week ending May 5 in the U.S., according to Nielsen Music. That’s the best sales week ever for Drake, the biggest for any album in 2016, and the biggest for an album by a male artist in over three years. (Note, this story was updated at 8:00 a.m. PT on May 8 to revise Views' sales figure to 852,000 from 851,000.)

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/7357991/drake-views-debuts-851000-sold-first-week

And with that, Beyonce's sells overall are medicore. Her sales show that she is overrated without any substantial receipts to back up her "media hype"

[Edited 11/21/16 14:24pm]

Hudson said:

First week sales of new R&B albums from the 3 biggest r&b acts of the 2000-2009 decade.

Here (Alicia Keys) 42,000

Wow! I know that her popularity isn't what it used to be,but 42,000 copies is embarassing

mjscarousal said:

Hudson said:

First week sales of new R&B albums from the 3 biggest r&b acts of the 2000-2009 decade.

Lemonade 485,000

Here (Alicia Keys) 42,000

Hard II Love (Usher) 28,000

Edit: I read over this post fast, this is referring to R&B acts. But regardless here are the receipts for the biggest first week sales of this year.

The official first-week sales figure for Drake's Views album has arrived. Views sold 852,000 copies in the week ending May 5 in the U.S., according to Nielsen Music. That’s the best sales week ever for Drake, the biggest for any album in 2016, and the biggest for an album by a male artist in over three years. (Note, this story was updated at 8:00 a.m. PT on May 8 to revise Views' sales figure to 852,000 from 851,000.)

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/7357991/drake-views-debuts-851000-sold-first-week

And with that, Beyonce's sells overall are medicore. Her sales show that she is overrated without any substantial receipts to back up her "media hype"

[Edited 11/21/16 14:24pm]

485k debut is mediocre in 2016? Perhaps she is being more overhyped that I realize.

Hudson said:

mjscarousal said:

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/7357991/drake-views-debuts-851000-sold-first-week

And with that, Beyonce's sells overall are medicore. Her sales show that she is overrated without any substantial receipts to back up her "media hype"

[Edited 11/21/16 14:24pm]

485k debut is mediocre in 2016? Perhaps she is being more overhyped that I realize.

You are specifically referring to her first weeks sells this year. As we can see by your own OP, her album sells overall are very mediocre compared to her peers. Even Usher and Pink have sold more albums world wide. Even Britney Spears blows her out the water in album sells. Also, there are other artists who have higher first week sales Drake, Adele, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry. I am bewildered with why you are fixated in making Beyonce more than what she is. She is overrated, her receipts reflect this.

mjscarousal said:

Hudson said:

485k debut is mediocre in 2016? Perhaps she is being more overhyped that I realize.

You are specifically referring to her first weeks sells this year. As we can see by your own OP, her album sells overall are very mediocre compared to her peers. Even Usher and Pink have sold more albums world wide. Even Britney Spears blows her out the water in album sells. Also, there are other artists who have higher first week sales Drake, Adele, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry. I am bewildered with why you are fixated in making Beyonce more than what she is. She is overrated, her receipts reflect this.

Being that I'm not a huge fan it surprises me too. Though Britney's last successful album was 2009's Circus. The follow-up didn't do a million even with two huge airplay hits and the latest two albums were disasters all around. Katy's last barely outsold Lemonade with two number ones and two of the most viewed vevo videos of all time. Adele and Taylor are in a league of their own no one really understands why they sell so much.

2011 Femme Fatale (last one with hits) 806,000

2013 Britney Jean 272,200 as of March 2015

2016 Glory-first week 88,000

2013 Katy Perry, Prism - 1,650,000

Edit so apparently we both were wrong Lol

I just double Checked on the Beyonce's sales figure for the Beyonce self titled album and she only sold 3,285,833 copies ww

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyonc%C3%A9_(album)

It says 5,000,000 WW (I think this was the amount of albums shipped ww) but when you add up the actually certifications that were sold it adds up to 3,285,833 units in pure sales ww.

When I added Katy Perry's certifications up. She actually sold 3,242,500 ww

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prism_(Katy_Perry_album)

So Beyonce's last album only sold 43,000 more units than Katy's Prism which IMO isn't by a large margin and nothing to gloat about.

Sorry I didn't mean to edit the entire post!

But Britney has out sold Beyonce

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britney_Spears_discography

[Edited 11/21/16 16:44pm]

The first post is sourced by the HuffPost, not wiki. I was just copying and pasting it. There's a lot of people who like what she does, you can't sell albums with hype.


By the way, The Formation Tour had 49 out of 49 sold out shows. Most of the venues held over 40,000 people.


https://en.wikipedia.org/...Tour#Shows

Hudson said:

The first post is sourced by the HuffPost, not wiki. I was just copying and pasting it. There's a lot of people who like what she does, you can't sell albums with hype.


By the way, The Formation Tour had 49 out of 49 sold out shows. Most of the venues held over 40,000 people.


https://en.wikipedia.org/...Tour#Shows

The venues were not sold out. Fans tweeted photos from the show and there are a lot of empty sections. I know people who went that insisted the shows were not sold out. If you looked on her site when she was on tour, the shows were not sold out and were still up for sale. This is old news and has been talked about numerous of times on this site.

I never insisted she doesn't have fans but based on her receipts she is overrated and not nearly as popular as she is hyped to be. She is overrated, period whether people like her or not.

[Edited 11/21/16 16:48pm]

mjscarousal said:

Hudson said:

The first post is sourced by the HuffPost, not wiki. I was just copying and pasting it. There's a lot of people who like what she does, you can't sell albums with hype.


By the way, The Formation Tour had 49 out of 49 sold out shows. Most of the venues held over 40,000 people.


https://en.wikipedia.org/...Tour#Shows

The venues were not sold out. Fans tweeted photos from the show and there are a lot of empty sections. I know people who went that insisted the shows were not sold out. If you looked on her site when she was on tour, the shows were not sold out and were still up for sale. This is old news and has been talked about numerous of times on this site.

I never insisted she doesn't have fans but based on her receipts she is overrated and not nearly as popular as she is hyped to be. She is overrated, period whether people like her or not.

[Edited 11/21/16 16:48pm]

Not to mention the fact that they were sending out text message blasts (still not sure how they got my number) saying, "Tickets available for 'sold out' Beyonce tour"....please.

I agree it is unfair to expect her to sell adele numbers when NOBODY ELSE IS these days. It's no longer common place to be multiplatinum. I would say this for if you posted jane doe's numbers too. Rihanna has always been a singles artist more than Beyonce who has always been an albums artist, and the few songs that went to #1 for Beyonce, are still on heavy rotation today. So I think it's safe to say both are successful and it's silly to pit them against each other

[Edited 11/23/16 23:18pm]

Shawy89 said:

Anyone who says that those aren't impressive numbers is either a Beyoncé hater OR doesn't know shit about the album sales climate. Beyonce was never an albums artist (Not until she dropped self-titled as one visual piece). People knew her as a strong stage performer with a considerable number of hits. Just like Bruno is at the moment. (Except that Bruno's singles sales are way more impressive). She's already a legend guys, why sabotage that? It's not like a Prince community fan forum decides that or not, all media outlets, all music journalists describe Beyoncé as a legend. Period. It doesn't matter if you find her untalented or think she buys critics / awards. The damage has been done y'all I'm not a hardcore Beyoncé fan but I also don't hate her for fucking up her way to the top. What matters to me is her music and her last two albums are masterpieces. I can blast Partition or All Night on speakers and feel good about it. [Edited 11/23/16 23:10pm]

But CLEALY looking at Beyonce's album sales and statistics, ratings etc the PEOPLE don't think Beyonce is this big incredible legend and icon as the media paints. Her receipts don't reflect regardless of what any music journalist says.

How is she a legend when she has no classics or iconic albums? What has she done that has been grounding breaking for music or that will last till the test of time?? NONE of her albums, performances or music will be remembered in a 50 year span.

Her sales are very very low compared to her peers. Usher, Pink, Britney Spears, Adele, EVEN Lady Gaga, etc have all out sold her. Hell, Usher even has a diamond album that was released during the same period as Beyonces commerical peak and he still outsold her.

Why are people always making excuses for Beyonce???? Why is it that she can get away with poor album sales but Adele can't??? Usher can't??? Alicia Keys can't??? Adele proves that she is way more popular and iconic than Beyonce (yea I said it and it is the truth because STATISTICALLY she proves that) and people are wiling to buy her music and this dying music industry climate which speaks mostly to her impact. Some of these posts are very stannish and not being objective. If this was any other pop star, these posts would have different responses. I don't care what anyone says, these sales figures are very poor for someone of Beyonce's stature and proves that she is all smoke and mirrors and overrated. And WHY is it unfair to compare her to Adele, her contemporary/peer when Beyonce is constantly being compared to Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston, TWO of the greatest selling Black pop stars of all time????? Beyonce just doesn't live up to the "hype" period. If she is getting called the queen, the greatest of her generation, all this bullshit, why are her album sells so poor?? Why are her ratings low?? Why are her number one hits low?? She is overrated with no receipts to back up her hype.

[Edited 11/24/16 22:28pm]

SeventeenDayze said:

mjscarousal said:

The venues were not sold out. Fans tweeted photos from the show and there are a lot of empty sections. I know people who went that insisted the shows were not sold out. If you looked on her site when she was on tour, the shows were not sold out and were still up for sale. This is old news and has been talked about numerous of times on this site.

I never insisted she doesn't have fans but based on her receipts she is overrated and not nearly as popular as she is hyped to be. She is overrated, period whether people like her or not.

[Edited 11/21/16 16:48pm]

Not to mention the fact that they were sending out text message blasts (still not sure how they got my number) saying, "Tickets available for 'sold out' Beyonce tour"....please.

She was still promoting her tour all the way up until the last shows because none of them were sold out. When it comes to Beyonce, I have learned that I can't listen to the media because there is a creepy propaganda and agenda to make her more than what she is. I look at her STATISTICS, album SALES, CERITFICATIONS, Chart Postions, Number ONE singles, HITS, RATINGS, to make an assessment and based on Factual statistics, she is clearly...overrated.

In this day and age those numbers look good to me - although I think they are a little inflated like most artist's stats

MotownSubdivision said:

Those numbers aren't that impressive for a star of her stature with such a lengthy career.

Who are you comparing her to in her generation, though? For example: 2016 numbers are weighed
differently against 1986 numbers because the recording industry is not what it used to be.

mjscarousal said:

Shawy89 said:

Anyone who says that those aren't impressive numbers is either a Beyoncé hater OR doesn't know shit about the album sales climate. Beyonce was never an albums artist (Not until she dropped self-titled as one visual piece). People knew her as a strong stage performer with a considerable number of hits. Just like Bruno is at the moment. (Except that Bruno's singles sales are way more impressive). She's already a legend guys, why sabotage that? It's not like a Prince community fan forum decides that or not, all media outlets, all music journalists describe Beyoncé as a legend. Period. It doesn't matter if you find her untalented or think she buys critics / awards. The damage has been done y'all I'm not a hardcore Beyoncé fan but I also don't hate her for fucking up her way to the top. What matters to me is her music and her last two albums are masterpieces. I can blast Partition or All Night on speakers and feel good about it. [Edited 11/23/16 23:10pm]

But CLEALY looking at Beyonce's album sales and statistics, ratings etc the PEOPLE don't think Beyonce is this big incredible legend and icon as the media paints. Her receipts don't reflect regardless of what any music journalist says.

How is she a legend when she has no classics or iconic albums? What has she done that has been grounding breaking for music or that will last till the test of time?? NONE of her albums, performances or music will be remembered in a 50 year span.

Her sales are very very low compared to her peers. Usher, Pink, Britney Spears, Adele, EVEN Lady Gaga, etc have all out sold her. Hell, Usher even has a diamond album that was released during the same period as Beyonces commerical peak and he still outsold her.

Why are people always making excuses for Beyonce???? Why is it that she can get away with poor album sales but Adele can't??? Usher can't??? Alicia Keys can't??? Adele proves that she is way more popular and iconic than Beyonce (yea I said it and it is the truth because STATISTICALLY she proves that) and people are wiling to buy her music and this dying music industry climate which speaks mostly to her impact. Some of these posts are very stannish and not being objective. If this was any other pop star, these posts would have different responses. I don't care what anyone says, these sales figures are very poor for someone of Beyonce's stature and proves that she is all smoke and mirrors and overrated. And WHY is it unfair to compare her to Adele, her contemporary/peer when Beyonce is constantly being compared to Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston, TWO of the greatest selling Black pop stars of all time????? Beyonce just doesn't live up to the "hype" period. If she is getting called the queen, the greatest of her generation, all this bullshit, why are her album sells so poor?? Why are her ratings low?? Why are her number one hits low?? She is overrated with no receipts to back up her hype.

[Edited 11/24/16 22:28pm]

Yes, Beyonce may be overrated, but her album sales are impressive in this post-Napster, iTunes, streaming service era. Considering all of her albums have gone platinum when most artists struggle to go gold these days shows some strong consistency. Sure, Drake, Taylor Swift, and Adele may have sold more albums in their debut week, but those are anomalies and even bigger anomalies considering it's incredibly difficult to even find physical CD's to buy these days. Taylor Swift is the ultimate All-American girl who is inoffensive and everyone loves, especially in flyover country, so her records can be found everywhere. Adele specially excluded her album 25 from streaming services, so even though her album blew the first week sales record out of the water, she did it by limiting the number of places to purchase it. And Drake had already released three or four singles which reached the top 25 before he even released his album Views, which by itself is quite unusual, as most artists may release that many singles during the entire album run.

And it can arguably be said that Beyonce is the greatest artists of her generation. The question is, what constitutes her generation? That generally includes her peers, and her peers going back to her Destiny's Child days are the Backstreet Boys, "Nsync/Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Usher, Alicia Keys, Coldplay, and Nickelback. Rihanna, Kanye West, Maroon 5, and Chris Brown are only somewhat her peers, as they came out a few years after she blew up, and I would argue that Lady GaGa, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Adele, and Bruno Mars are not really part of her generation, as they didn't become big until a full decade after Beyonce first came out.

But going back to "the greatest artist of her generation" stuff. Beyonce is still selling sizable numbers of albums and (mostly) selling out arenas as most of her peers have already fallen by the wayside. Only Justin Timberlake could still be considered a huge megastar along with her. Usher, Alicia Keys, and Coldplay are still releasing music, but they're not nearly as huge as they once were, and the Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera are either playing the nostalgia tour circuit or doing Vegas shows.

Dasein said:

728huey said:

She is actually not that far ahead of Norah Jones in that category of US sales of albums, which considering that BEYONCE is on the cover of every magazine in movies all over social media etc....her sales overall do not show it, like some say its OVERKILL in a way. And don't expect it to rise now as she is on the "latter: half of her career, she is now the "old timer" and sales for all are decreasing.

I won't question the US sales, but the worldwide sales figures seem a bit hard to believe.

Typically, American artists sell about the same amount of albums elsewhere in the world as they do domestically. I know that Beyonce is a big star in many other areas as well, but 3-4 times more albums sold elsewhere? Where exactly?

Just check out the chart positions for the third album, for example:
https://en.wikipedia.org/...sha_Fierce

It didn't even enter the TOP10 in many important countries, like Germany, France or Italy.

728huey said:

mjscarousal said:

But CLEALY looking at Beyonce's album sales and statistics, ratings etc the PEOPLE don't think Beyonce is this big incredible legend and icon as the media paints. Her receipts don't reflect regardless of what any music journalist says.

How is she a legend when she has no classics or iconic albums? What has she done that has been grounding breaking for music or that will last till the test of time?? NONE of her albums, performances or music will be remembered in a 50 year span.

Her sales are very very low compared to her peers. Usher, Pink, Britney Spears, Adele, EVEN Lady Gaga, etc have all out sold her. Hell, Usher even has a diamond album that was released during the same period as Beyonces commerical peak and he still outsold her.

Why are people always making excuses for Beyonce???? Why is it that she can get away with poor album sales but Adele can't??? Usher can't??? Alicia Keys can't??? Adele proves that she is way more popular and iconic than Beyonce (yea I said it and it is the truth because STATISTICALLY she proves that) and people are wiling to buy her music and this dying music industry climate which speaks mostly to her impact. Some of these posts are very stannish and not being objective. If this was any other pop star, these posts would have different responses. I don't care what anyone says, these sales figures are very poor for someone of Beyonce's stature and proves that she is all smoke and mirrors and overrated. And WHY is it unfair to compare her to Adele, her contemporary/peer when Beyonce is constantly being compared to Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston, TWO of the greatest selling Black pop stars of all time????? Beyonce just doesn't live up to the "hype" period. If she is getting called the queen, the greatest of her generation, all this bullshit, why are her album sells so poor?? Why are her ratings low?? Why are her number one hits low?? She is overrated with no receipts to back up her hype.

[Edited 11/24/16 22:28pm]

Yes, Beyonce may be overrated, but her album sales are impressive in this post-Napster, iTunes, streaming service era. Considering all of her albums have gone platinum when most artists struggle to go gold these days shows some strong consistency. Sure, Drake, Taylor Swift, and Adele may have sold more albums in their debut week, but those are anomalies and even bigger anomalies considering it's incredibly difficult to even find physical CD's to buy these days. Taylor Swift is the ultimate All-American girl who is inoffensive and everyone loves, especially in flyover country, so her records can be found everywhere. Adele specially excluded her album 25 from streaming services, so even though her album blew the first week sales record out of the water, she did it by limiting the number of places to purchase it. And Drake had already released three or four singles which reached the top 25 before he even released his album Views, which by itself is quite unusual, as most artists may release that many singles during the entire album run.

And it can arguably be said that Beyonce is the greatest artists of her generation. The question is, what constitutes her generation? That generally includes her peers, and her peers going back to her Destiny's Child days are the Backstreet Boys, "Nsync/Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Usher, Alicia Keys, Coldplay, and Nickelback. Rihanna, Kanye West, Maroon 5, and Chris Brown are only somewhat her peers, as they came out a few years after she blew up, and I would argue that Lady GaGa, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Adele, and Bruno Mars are not really part of her generation, as they didn't become big until a full decade after Beyonce first came out.

But going back to "the greatest artist of her generation" stuff. Beyonce is still selling sizable numbers of albums and (mostly) selling out arenas as most of her peers have already fallen by the wayside. Only Justin Timberlake could still be considered a huge megastar along with her. Usher, Alicia Keys, and Coldplay are still releasing music, but they're not nearly as huge as they once were, and the Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera are either playing the nostalgia tour circuit or doing Vegas shows.

I hear your points...but the thing I find the most creepiest about Beyonce admirers is that they make to many excuses for her shortcomings. There is always an excuse for Beyonce when ever she is criticized. Why is that? Why is she above reproach or criticism???? Its creepy to me because people make it seem as though Beyonce is untouchable and can not be criticized.

I personally don't think it can be arguable she is the greatest "artist" of her generation because again STATISTICALLY it does not reflect that. Again like I said earlier, her PEERS, Usher, Britney Spears, Pink, Eminem and Justin Timberlake have all OUT SOLD Beyonce. Britney has TWO diamond albums, TWO from the early 00's while Beyonce has none. Hell, even USHER has a diamond album that was released in 2004 (Usher is the ONLY Black artist in the last 20 years to receive a diamond album,which is impressive) and none of Beyonce's album's pre streaming era went diamond or have sold as much as Usher. Even Pink has sold more than Beyonce and Pink never and the machine and marketing advantage as Beyonce. Eminem has TWO diamond albums and blows Beyonce out the water in album sales.

IMO, Britney is the greatest pop star of HER generation and there is a lot of people who think this too and I also often hear Eminem cited as well. IMO, longevitiy does not necessarily make an artist the greatest, but the cultural impact, classic and iconic moments a artist is able to capture and resonate to audiences is what makes them great and Britney Spears without a doubt has that over Beyonce and Britney is not doing that bad with sales herself. Beyonce uses a lot of gimmicks to stay relevant and to garner first week sales at this point in her career and I personally would not applaud that as a feat being she is not selling on the quality of her music or merit. I am tired of this overration and sympathy for Beyonce and I will always call it out. She is hyped up and showered with awards when statistically she does not deserve it.

[Edited 11/27/16 12:10pm]