1.Elvis Presley
Nicknamed “The King”, Elvis Presley obtained during his career 90 gold discs, 52 platinum, 25 multi-platinum and one diamond for the Elvis’ Christmas Album, sold worldwide to more than ten million copies. His personal fortune amounted to 150 million US dollars and is in the ranking of deceased artists with the most money.
2. Michael Jackson
Nicknamed “The King of Pop”, Michael Jackson broke several record industry records. For his entire career, sales of his singles and albums amount to nearly a billion copies, which ranks him among the three biggest record sellers of all time, along with the Beatles and Elvis Presley. The Guinness Book of World Records names him the most successful variety entertainer of all time. For the Rock and Roll hall of fame, he is the most popular artist in the history of the entertainment industry.
3. The Beatles
Composed of John Lennon, Paul Mccartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, it remains one of the most popular rock bands in the world. In ten years of existence and only eight years of recording career (from 1962 to 1970), the Beatles recorded twelve original albums and composed more than 200 songs. The Beatles remain the artists who have sold the most records in the world. This figure was already estimated by EMI in the 1980s at more than one billion CDs, vinyls, and even 78 rpm in India, sold across the planet, and it has continued to increase until today reaching a figure more than 2 billion.
4.Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby’s biggest musical success is his cover of Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas,” a song that has sold 50 million copies and has been performed by more than 400 popular singers around the world. after him. This song has become the most sung and famous song. During his career, Crosby appeared in nearly 100 films, and wrote and sang more than 1,700 songs, 383 of which made the “Top 30” charts. The sales of his records are estimated at 500 million records
5. Tino Rossi
He is the only French artist to have sold more than 500 million records worldwide. In 1949, Tino Rossi became the first French singer to obtain a gold record and, for the occasion, “the only one to have received this solid 24-carat gold record”. Despite the opacity deliberately maintained by the record industry on its records, that it is estimated to have sold 5.711 million of 45 singles, 30 million copies, even “35 million, including 20 million for France alone”, this “a real phenomenon in the history of French song” is unanimously considered to be the best-selling title in the history of recording in France: “more than 400,000 copies sold during the 2011 Christmas holidays” according to biographer FrĂ©dĂ©ric Valmont.
6. Led Zeppelin
Founded by Jimmy Page on guitar, with Robert Plant on vocals, John Paul Jones on bass and keyboards and John Bonham on drums, Led Zeppelin has sold over 300 million albums worldwide. All his albums have been classified in the “top 10” of the American charts and six reached the first place there (seven in Great Britain). Rolling Stone magazine describes the group as the “heaviest” of all time and the greatest of the seventies. It is also considered one of the first hard rock bands, and one of the pioneers of heavy metal.
7.Madonna
Nicknamed The Queen of Pop, Madonna is named by the Guinness Book of World Records as the best-selling singer of all time with more than 305.6 million records sold. She was for a long time and is still considered today as one of the women at the origin of the modern female pop trend. Madonna is the highest paid celebrity in 2009 and 2013 and one of the richest singers in the world with an estimated fortune of 560 million dollars in May 2016. She is one of six artists whose tours have brought in more than 1 billion of dollars.
8. The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones have released 22 studio albums in the UK (24 in the US), 8 live albums (9 in the US) and 32 compilations. In 2012, the band estimates they sold over 400 million albums worldwide. They were ranked No. 4 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
9.AC/DC
In 2008, AC/DC sold more than 200 million albums worldwide, including 71 million in the United States during its 39 years of existence, and is considered a pioneer of hard rock for all generations since the existence of the group. Sales of Back in Black are estimated at 50 million copies worldwide, making it the second best-selling album in the world behind Michael Jackson’s Thriller. In 2010, the album lists 22 million copies sold in the United States, where it is the 5th best-selling album. They are ranked 4th in the ranking of the 100 best hard rock bands on the VH1 website.
10. Celine Dion
We end with our great Quebec artist. She released her first two albums in 1981 and enjoyed almost immediate success. With more than 230 million records sold worldwide, Celine Dion ranks 20th among artists who have sold the most records in the United States and 2nd for female singers (with 17.57 million records) for the decade. 2000 and one of only 4 artists to appear in the top 20 in both the 1990s and the 2000s. At the 2007 World Music Award ceremony, she received the Legend Award in recognition of her “global success and for his outstanding contribution to the music industry”. She also received a FĂ©lix Tribute at the 30th anniversary of the ADISQ gala in 2008 as well as the prestigious Billboard Icon Award at the Billboard Music Awards in 2016 to highlight her entire career. According to estimates from her record company, Celine Dion would have sold 175 million albums worldwide (from 1987 to 2004).