noepie said:

Who is that?

In terms of sales the top 5 are:

Elvis Presley
The Beatles
Michael Jackson
Bee Gees
Paul McCartney

okaypimpn said:

daivd bowie.

Come on.... Whether you agree with his career path or not, don't deny Michale Jackson. His stardom was probably the only thing about which was TRULY unprecedented. He was bigger than Elvis, bigger than the Beatles. There was a time when he would make the news for no other reason than the press had found his hotel. He cultivated his stardom and it paid off. For a while at least.
[This message was edited Thu Apr 8 6:47:37 2004 by rainman1985]

WildStyle said:

See, but I was able to name names and all you could come up with was "whoever". Fill in that blank.

Cloudbuster said:

Actually, according to a newspaper article I read yesterday, ABBA are second only to the Beatles for total record sales (somewhere between 280 and 350 million). I would say that they are probably neck-and-neck with Elvis and MJ. Since sales weren't probably tabulated (or more frequently, no records were kept), sales for Elvis, Beatles, MJ (pre-Soundscan), Bee Gees and Paul McCartney will never be known. It's all conjecture. Although I would definitely conjecture that Madonna has sold more than Paul McCartney on a global scale. I've never seen him on one of these "top seller" lists before.
[This message was edited Thu Apr 8 10:06:40 2004 by VoicesCarry]

rainman1985 said:

I guess you weren't around for BeatleMania. Either way, he comes in #3 after those two giants.

RICK JAMES.....bitch


lol jk

Anxiety said:

I wanted to say Little Richard too cos i dig him so much. But unfortunately i'm staring down the barrel of Elvis, by a mile.

This is a debate that never seems to end, its almost impossible to say who is the biggest seller, because different sources claim one thing from another who says different! There have been reports that Elvis sold 1billion records, of course, anyone who believes that is an idiot! Elvis was only around for a few years had a big gap and then came back for a short final burst! And most of Elvis' record sales were singles, which were counted differently from the way they are today! Finally, you have to remember that back then Elvis was only really popular in the USA and the UK, though he never even toured in the latter. i would put Elvis' record sales at 300million singles to be generous and far less albums!

With the beatles, again, you have various sources claiming grossly inflated figures, which i think include the solo work of each member also. The beatles were far more successful in terms of album sales than elvis, so i would tend to put them higher up the list.

Madonna even gets exaggerated figures, i think in total she has sold about 90million albums, about 40million of those were in the US. Just think about her 90s output where the majority of her albums ie erotica, bedtime stories, something to remember, american life struggled to sell 4-5million, She really only has a few major albums that have sold well, Like a Prayer 13million, Ray of Light 13million, Immaculate Collection 20million and Like a Virgin 20million!

Michael Jackson probably has the most accurate and truthful representation of his record sales since it is a major focus of the media. in terms of singles he ain't too hot next to elvis and the beatles, but in album sales he blows em out the water! Sony have recently, with the NO1s promotion, updated his record sales from his major albums, Thriller 60million, Bad 31million, Dangerous 32million, History 18 million 2CD albums, BOTD 7million, Invincible 10million, Off the Wall 18million, Greatest Hits 1million, No 1s almost 5million, that doesnt take account of his lesser albums Ben, Got to be There, farewell my summer love, Music and Me, thats solo album sales of over 200million and if you include the album sales of the J5 and the Jacksons you would get close to 300million!
Finally, just a point that if u look in the History Booklet, it says Michael Jackson:The biggest selling ARtist Ever!!!

Also, just a note to say that if Prince's record sales were updated, which hasnt happened in a zillion years, u would find that he is at almost 100million! over 40million in the US according to soundscan, maybe in a year after the huge success of Musicology that might be 50million

FunkyBrotha said:

Madonna has sold close to 150 million albums around the world since 1983.Her total worldwide album sales are quite impressive...

***'MADONNA' (1983) 8 million copies
***'LIKE A VIRGIN' (1984) 19 million copies
***'TRUE BLUE' (1986) 20 million copies
***'WHO'S THAT GIRL SOUNDTRACK (1987) 5 million copies
***'YOU CAN DANCE' REMIX ALBUM (1987) 5 million copies
***'LIKE A PRAYER' (1989) 13 million copies
***'I'M BREATHLESS' (1990) 5 million copies
***'IMMACULATE COLLECTION' (1990) 22 million copies
***'EROTICA' (1992) 5 million copies
***'BEDTIME STORIES' (1994) 6 million copies
***'SOMETHING TO REMEMBER' (1995) 8 million copies
***'EVITA SOUNDTRACK' (1996) 11 million copies
***'RAY OF LIGHT' (1998) 14 million copies
***'MUSIC' (2000) 14 million copies
***'GREATEST HITS VOLUME 2' (2001) 7 million copies
***'AMERICAN LIFE' (2003) 5 million copies


Because she has several albums that sold more than 10 million copies,when she sells anything less than that,it's usually considered "disappointing" .But albums like 'Erotica','Bedtime Stories' and 'American Life' are not quite the flops they are made out to be.How many longtime artists (in their mid-40s,no less) can still sell at least 5 million copies (worldwide) of a new album?

RupertZ said:

Listening to them right now in fact.
[This message was edited Fri Apr 9 5:58:55 2004 by minneapolisgenius]

Is this thread about record sales or artists that actually changed the face of music during their time?

VoicesCarry said:

Well, I guess it's a case of which source you want to believe. I would've thought that Madonna had outsold Paul McCartney but yeah, it's likely that concerning the five artists I mentioned some rough estimates had to be made in addition to soundscan stats as they were selling albums long before sales were well documented.

As an example, like you say, Abba'a sales are somewhere between 280 and 350m. That leaves quite a bit of room for guesswork.


.
[This message was edited Sat Apr 10 9:55:05 2004 by Cloudbuster]

minneapolisgenius said:

Some fans seem to think that's one and the same, although we know it's not.
Re-reading the author's first post, it's about the latter.

Michael Jackson.

He had a fanbase ranging in age from 8 to 80, all races. It really was funny attending the Bad tour and seeing the age range. I've not seen that with anyone since.

Marrk said:

M-i-c-h-a-e-l

Supernova said:

Yeah, I was too lazy to scroll up myself and read it again.

Imminent Starvation is and always will be the biggest.

mj,elvis,beatles,madonna,charlie chaplin

PRINCE ,MILES DAVIS
AND JIM MORRISONNNNN

DavidEye said:

mj,madonna and cher are the only ones i can think of right now!

Anxiety said:

Probably Roy Brown, Billy Wright and Louis Jordan.

BlueNote
[This message was edited Sun Apr 25 2:27:06 2004 by BlueNote]

Michael Jackson

LightOfArt said:

Madonna
by
far
the
last
20
years

ehuffnsd said:

[snip, flame removed -Tom] If anything, Madonna has ruined music for future generations.

garnis said:

Elvis.

Absolutely no debate is necessary.

Cloudbuster said:

Damn! Where's Garth Brooks??? 50 million rednecks can't be wrong...

LightOfArt said:

Do you realise you said Charlie Chaplin?? Explain yourself!!!