IFPI official numbers
 

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) just released their updated figures.

1 The Beatles 40+ 400,000,000 UK 60s (1962-1970) Rock/Pop Guinness/EMI

2. Michael Jackson 14 350,000,000 US 70s-00s (1979-) Pop/R&B MJ Stats

3 Elvis Presley 150+ 300,000,000 US 50s-70s (1956-1977) Country/Rock

4. Madonna 16 275,000,000 US 80s-00s (1984-) Pop WBR [1]

5. Nana Mouskouri 450 250,000,000 Greece 60s-00s (1959-) Pop [2][3]

6. Cliff Richard 60+ 250,000,000 UK 50s-00s (1959-1969,1977-1979,1986-1999) Rock/Pop [4]

7.The Rolling Stones 54 ~250,000,000 UK 60s-00s (1964-1981) Rock 60.5 million in the US [5]

8. Mariah Carey 14 230,000,000 US 90s-00s (1990-) Pop/R&B

9. Elton John 43 ~220,000,000 UK 70s-00s (1972-1976,1989-1991,1997-) Pop [6]

10.Celine Dion 21 220,000,000 Canada 80s-00s (1990-) Pop Music/Pop Discography

11. Pink Floyd 21 ~210,000,000 UK 60s-00s (1970-1983,1994-1995) Prog Rock 73 Mil US

12. Led Zeppelin 9/12 200,000,000+ UK 60s-70s (1969-1979) Rock/Blues MSNBC

13. Metallica 10 ~200,000,000 US 80's-00's (1991-1997) Hard Rock 57 mil US

14. Julio Iglesias 80 ~200,000,000 Spain 70s-00s (1969-) Latino Pop [7] [8]

15. Queen 22 180,000,000 UK 70s-00s (1975-1995) Rock R&R

16 AC/DC ~180,000,000 Australia/UK 70s-00s (1980-1992) Hard Rock AC/DC

17 Whitney Houston 10 ~180,000,000 US 80s-00s (1985-2000) R&B/Pop Discography

18. ABBA 160,000,000 Sweden 70s-80s (1974-1982) Disco/Pop ABBA discography

19. U2 ~150,000,000 Ireland 80s-00s (1983-) Rock/Pop 50m.US

20.The Jacksons 150,000,000 US 60s-80s (1969-1980) R&B 71m.US

21. Garth Brooks ~145,000,000 US 80s-00s (1989-2001) Country 105m.US

22. Janet Jackson 11 130,000,000 US 80s-00s (1986-) R&B/pop

23. The Eagles ~120,000,000 US 70s-00s (1974-1979) Country/Rock 89 million in US

24. Wei Wei ~120,000,000 China 80s-00s (1986-) Pop [12] [13]

25. The Bee Gees 110,000,000 UK/Australia 60s-00s (1975-1979) Pop/Disco src.1

26. Bon Jovi ~110,000,000 US 80s-00s (1986-2000) Rock/Hard Rock (100m.alb.)

27. R.E.M. ~110,000,000 US 80s-00s (1991-) Rock [(106m.alb.)

28. Kenny Rogers 105,000,000+ US 60s-00s Country/Pop/Rock [15]

29. Black Sabbath 100,000,000+ US 70s-00s Hard Rock/Metal [17]

30. Barbra Streisand 100,000,000+ US 60s-00s popular 70.5 million in US [18]

31. Mireille Mathieu 37 ~100,000,000 France 60s-00s Pop src.

32.Alla Pugacheva 15 ~100,000,000 Russia 70s-00s Rock/Pop *(10m.US) [19]

33. Prince ~100,000,000 US 70s-00s Rock/Pop src.

34. Ricky Nelson ~100,000,000 US 50s-80s Pop/Country/Rock

35. Luciano Pavarotti ~100,000,000 Italy 60s-00s Opera [20] [21]

36.Brenda Lee ~100,000,000 US 50s-60s Pop/Country [22]

37.OmPrakash ~100,000,000 India 90s-00s [23]

38.Illayaraja ~100,000,000 India 70s-00s [24]

39. Johnny Mathis ~100,000,000 UK 60s-00s Rock/Pop [25]

40. Lionel Richie ~100,000,000 US 80s-00s Pop/R&B [26] 21.0 mililion in US
[27]

41. Dolly Parton ~100,000,000 US 60s-00s Country [28]

42. Donna Summer ~100,000,000 US 70s-90s Disco

43. Aerosmith ~100,000,000 US 70s-00s Hard Rock [30] [31]

44. Billy Joel ~100,000,000 US 70s-00s Pop / Rock 78 mil.US, [32] [33]

45. Fleetwood Mac ~100,000,000 UK/US 60s-00s Pop/Rock 2

46. Johnny Hallyday ~100,000,000 France 50s-00s Pop src.1 [34]

47. Charles Aznavour ~100,000,000 France 50s-00s Pop [35]

48. Bruce Springsteen ~90,000,000 US 70s-00s Rock/Pop *(61 mil. albums US)

49. Def Leppard ~90,000,000 UK 80s-00s Hard Rock 55.5mil.US

50. Bob Dylan ~90,000,000 US 60s-00s Folk-Rock *35m.US,

51. Earth, Wind & Fire 90,000,000 US 70s-00s R&B/Funk/Disco/Pop *(23 mil.US)

52. KISS 30 ~90,000,000 US 70s-00s Hard Rock source

53.B'z 14 ~86,000,000 Japan 90s-00s Rock See also: discussion #22

54. Eddy Arnold 85,000,000 US 40s-90s Country source

55. Britney Spears ~85,000,000 US 90s-00s Pop *(32 mil. US), src.

56. Modern Talking ~80,000,000 Germany 80s-00s Eurodance

57. Jean-Michel Jarre 19 ~80,000,000 France 70s-00s Synth Pop sourceSee also: discussion #19

58. Santana ~80,000,000 US 60s-00s Rock src.1 *[37mil. US]

59. Dalida ~80,000,000 France 50s-80s as of 1981 See also: discussion #19

60. Salvatore Adamo ~80,000,000 Italy 60s-00s [38]

61. Fairouz ~80,000,000 Lebanon 60s-00s Traditional Arab, Modern, Pop *(35 mil. US)

62. Eric Clapton ~80,000,000 UK 80s-00s Rock, Blues *(38 mil. US)

63. Stevie Wonder ~80,000,000 US 60s-00s Soul/R&B/Pop,Disco [39]

64. Hank Snow ~80,000,000 Canada 30's-90's Folk [40]

65. Spice Girls 3 ~76,000,000 UK 90s-00s Pop source

66. Backstreet Boys ~75,000,000 US 90s-00s Pop src.1 [41]

67. Journey ~75,000,000 US 70s-00s Rock/Pop 40mil.US, [42]

68. Paul McCartney ~75,000,000+ UK 60s-00s Rock

69. Dire Straits 74,000,000 UK 70s-90s Rock

70. Shania Twain 4 ~73,000,000 Canada 90s-00s Country/Rock/Pop

71. Depeche Mode ~70,000,000 UK 80s-00s Pop/Rock

72. A-ha 10 70,000,000 Norway 80s-00s Pop [43] [44]

73. The Carpenters 70,000,000 US 60s-80s Pop

74. Gloria Estefan ~70,000,000 US 80s-00s Latino Pop src.1, [45]

75. Enya 5 70,000,000 Ireland 80s-00s New Age/Celtic

76. Roberto Carlos ~70,000,000 Brazil 60s-00s [46] [47]

77. Charley Pride ~70,000,000 US 60s-00s Country source

78. Bay City Rollers ~70,000,000 UK 70s-00s Rock [48]

79. Van Halen ~70,000,000 US 70s-00s Hard Rock [49]

80. Kylie Minogue 65,000,000 Australia 80s-00s Synth Pop source

81. George Strait ~65,000,000 US 70s-00s Country *54 mil. US

82. Iron Maiden 65,000,000 UK 70s-00s Metal [51]

83. Eminem 65,000,000 US 90s-00s Rap *(22 mil. US)

84. Tupac 60,000,000+ US 90s-00s Rap [52]

85. Genesis 60,000,000 UK Rock/Pop src.

86. Phil Collins ~60,000,000 UK Rock/Pop src.

87. Guns N' Roses ~60,000,000 US 80s-90s Hard Rock 71mil. albums

88. Chicago ~60,000,000 US 60s-80s Jazz/Rock [53]

89. Vicky Leandros 400+ ~60,000,000+ Greece 60s-00s Pop No reference given

90. Bryan Adams ~60,000,000 Canada 80s-00s Pop/Rock 1

91. The Doors ~60,000,000 US 60s-70s Rock *(30 mil. US)

92. Tina Turner ~60,000,000 US 70s-00s Rock/Pop [54]

93. Perry Como ~60,000,000 US 30s-00s Standards [55] [56]

94. Frank Sinatra ~60,000,000 US 40s-90s Standards *(25 mil.US)

95. Simon and Garfunkel ~60,000,000 US 60s Folk-Rock *(36mil.US)

96. Pearl Jam ~60,000,000 US 90s-00s Alternative *(29 mil. US)

97. John Denver ~60,000,000 US 60s-00s Folk/Rock/Country [57]

98. The Monkees ~60,000,000 US 60s-90s Rock [58]

99. Hank Thompson ~60,000,000 US 40s-00s Country

100. Barry Manilow 60,000,000+ US 70s-00s Pop/Standards [59]

101. Boyz II Men ~60,000,000 US 80s-00s R&B/Pop *(27mil.US), [60]

102. Paul Anka ~60,000,000 Canada 50s-00s Pop [61]

103. Alanis Morissette ~55,000,000 Canada 90s-00s Rock/Pop src.1 [62]

104. TLC 55,000,000+ USA 90s-00s *(28 mil.US)R&B BMG

105. The Police *53,000,000 UK 70s-80s Rock/Pop 22m.US, [63]

106. Nirvana *52,000,000 US 80s-90s Alternative 24m.US

107. Michael Bolton 52,000,000 US 80s-00s Pop [64]

108. Luis Miguel 55,000,000 Mexico 80s-00s Latin Pop [65]

109. Andre Kostelanetz 52,000,000 US 70s-00s Classic src.1 [66]

110. Tony Bennett ~51,000,000 US 50s-00s Standards/Jazz [67]

111. Alabama *~50,000,000 US 70s-00s Country 46m.US

112. Johnny Cash 4 ~50,000,000 US Country [68]

113. Motley Crue *~50,000,000 US 80s-00s Hard Rock 22m.US, [69]

114. Foreigner *~50,000,000 US/UK 70s-90s Rock/Pop 36m.US

115. Oasis ~57,000,000 UK 90s-00s Rock ~50m.albums

116. Meat Loaf ~50,000,000 US 70s-00s Rock [70] src.2

117. Olivia Newton-John ~50,000,000 Australia 70s-00s Country/Pop [71]

118. Bjork ~50,000,000 Iceland 80s-00s Alternative [72]

119. Gene Autry ~50,000,000 US Country [73]

120. Nat King Cole ~50,000,000 US 30s-60s Jazz [74]

121. The Seekers ~50,000,000 Australia 60s, 90s-00s Rock/Pop/Folk [75]

122.The Doobie Brothers ~50,000,000 US 70s-00s Rock 50mil.US

123. Three Dog Night ~50,000,000 US 60s-70s Rock [76] [77] src.3

124. Bob Seger ~50,000,000 US 70s-00s Rock [78]

125. Roger Whittaker ~50,000,000 UK 70s-90s src.1 [79]

127. Annie Lennox ~50,000,000 UK 90s-00s src.1 [80]

128. Ace Of Base ~50,000,000 Sweden 90s-00s Pop/Dance source

129. David Bowie ~50,000,000 UK 60s-00s Rock src.

130. Reba McEntire 48,000,000 US 70s-00s Country [81]

131. Andy Lau (??‰Ø 48,000,000 Hong Kong 80s-00s Country [82] [83]

132. Ayumi Hamasaki 46,000,000 Japan 90s-00s J-Pop src.

133. Willie Nelson 46,000,000 US 50s-00s IRS

134. George Michael 45,000,000 UK 80s-00s Pop [84]

135. Biggie Smalls ~48,000,000 US 90s Rap *(38mil.US)

136. Bananarama ~45,000,000 UK 80s-00s Pop/Rock/Dance 40mil albums

137. Chris de Burgh 45,000,000 Ireland 70s-00s Pop/Rock src.1 [85]

138. Red Hot Chili Peppers 44,000,000 US 80s-00s Alternative

139. Milli Vanilli 44,000,000 Germany 80s-90s Pop [86]

140. Alan Jackson 43,000,000 US 90s-00s Country source

141. *NSYNC 42,000,000 US 90s-00s Pop *(30 mil. US)

142. Christina Aguilera 4 ~40,000,000 US 90s-00s Pop 34m.albums

143. Vicente Fernandez 40,000,000 Mexico 70s-00s Mexican

144. Waylon Jennings +40,000,000 US Country [87]

145. Jose Feliciano 40,000,000 Puerto Rico 60s-00s Pop

146. Judas Priest 15 ~40,000,000 UK 70s-00s Hard Rock

147. The Who ~40,000,000 UK 60s-00s Rock *(20mil.US)

148. Ozzy Osbourne ~40,000,000 UK 60s-00s Hard Rock *(27mil.US)

149. John Lennon ~40,000,000 UK 60s-70s Rock *13.5mil.US

150. The Beach Boys 40,000,000 US 60s-90s (1961-1996) Pop/Rock

I only found two japanese acts in that list, and that means a lot.

BTW I got this from another forum, I tried to search for the list on the official IFPI site, but couldn't find it, so if anyone finds the source, please post it, thanks. :)

Yay Ayu! :D B'z at #53 <3 Southern All Stars and Mr.Children should be higher than Ayu but they aren't on that list... They sold just a couple of millions more than Ayu.

Woah excellent. Ayu's the only female Japanese artist who has gotten in the top list. Guess this indeed make her the indisputable queen of J-Pop indeed :P
I must say that it's impressive to see how much The Beatles sold in just 12 years. It's really breath-taking.

PLUS. Ayu has been around for 7 or 8 years.... bands like B'z have been around forever =) I think it's awesome for a SOLO, FEMALE, JAPANESE artists that has just debuted not even 10 years ago to be in this list

Yes you're right indeed. Many of the artists listed here have been around forever, some even for over twenty years. Who knows Ayu might enter in the top 100 in 5 years or so!

i think i saw this from wikipedia.....im not sure, lemme check again

edit: i cant find it yet, but the chart still is (to me) trangely familiar to wikipedia's. neways, i dun think andy lau could've sold more than ayu

46 MILLION COPIES? :eek

WOW! XD XD Hurray for Ayu! I'm happy to see that her numbers are so high :)

please post here if you find it, I still haven't found a source so it still seems a bit fishy

Well to anybody who wants to check, the official site seems to be here so if anyone wants to try figuring out where the charts are can go here.

wow.. ayu beat christina aguilera!! i love ayu to death!!

Wow, that's an impressive list. O_O; Thanks for sharing =)

that's impresive! but... what does it means?

That's AWESOME! Yaayyy :love

131. Andy Lau (??‰Ø 48,000,000 Hong Kong 80s-00s Country [82] [83]

I don't know whether all of you know this guy
but I can tell you it is impossible to see him in the list
he is a popular Hong Kong singer
but his sales could not have 48,000,000
other Hong Kong singer like Jacky Cheung must be higher than him

Not too bad for only being around for almost 8 years. Go Ayu!

yea...me 2. i think its nearly impossible for him to sell more than ayu...

Wee, go Ayu! :)

wow this is awesome :D

but Beatles sold 400.000.000 copies????!?!?!?! WTF?????? O_o

Yes, they were that popular back in the day :laugh

well I knew they were insanely popular, but I would've never imagined they sold so many records

They didn't. This list is sales from when they came out until now. So way more than 12 years. :)

I'm not sure how accurate this list is though, especially with no source. I'm pretty sure it was confirmed a few years ago that B'z was in the top 10 right behind Garth Brooks and now not even Garth are anywhere near the top either.

So I search for the source and I found the same list on an Enya forum and the source was from another forum then this forum credited and britney spears forum and yet another forum.

so this news might be just some kind of joke or whatever.. at the IFP page the only thing I found was an article on ayu winning the japanese record award for the second year and she sang her hit song dearest. lol

so... where is the real source?

ok....searched the site, there was a similar topic a while ago:
http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32343

showing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_selling_music_artists this from wikipedia. sum1 changed the format of the lists tho.

46,000,000! WHOAAAA! :D

What is the number after the name (is it how many years they've been selling for), and what is the number in square brackets?

But this really makes me wonder how credible this is...Andy Lau shouldn't even be on the list. As well as some others who should be, and some others who shouldn't be.

Yeah but they released material during that 12 years. That's what I meant :yes

yay congrats Ayu!

thanks for the numbers

why is Yumi not considered in here?

Yumi Matsutoya / Yuming did not really sell that much. It was the amazing respect for her work and her status as the queen of jpop that made her succesful. Also, she wasn't a hype like many artists are now.

ah Ic thanks for clearing that up.

and **** hell!!! Modern Talking are supposed to have sold approx. 100mio. records???
thats like the cheapest trash pop ever produced and would mean every single person in germany owns at least one of their CD's...
this cant be true

That's good! She's outsold some famous artists.

yup tis pretty awesome! and it's only sales in Japan?

Also, as Annabelle pointed out, neither Mr. Children or Southern All Stars are on the list and it is a fact that they have sold more than Ayumi has - so the accuracy of this list? Who knows.

of course. they have no way of knowing her non-japanese sales. even if you but Japanese version through yesasia.com it won't be counted in these sales. So yea; it's amazing :D

i believe ayu has sold more than that

Hm.. I don't follow the charts closely but according to this thread she has indeed sold around 46,000 copies unless of course asongforxx hasn't copied this information from the same source as this one but I do not think so.

^since i had nothing to do, i added the numbers from the thread. n it came out to:
43,869,126

so i think the source for the chart is a bit off.

Well that's close. Maybe something else got added. I donno.

there are sales till 2000 only??? Bah...

^no they r from 1998-2006

That's really an amazing feat, considering how, although Japan has the world's 2nd largest record industry, it is such an incredibly limited market. This also makes me more intrigued by B'z. I've never really listened to them.

65. Spice Girls 3 ~76,000,000 UK 90s-00s Pop source

80. Kylie Minogue 65,000,000 Australia 80s-00s Synth Pop source

118. Bjork ~50,000,000 Iceland 80s-00s Alternative [72]

132. Ayumi Hamasaki 46,000,000 Japan 90s-00s J-Pop src.

----------------------------------------------

Yay to all these gals! /// Ginger Spice + Ayumi = Heaven!

does milli vanilli even count? lol. congrats ayu! yay for you.

UTADA?!

Wow! ^^ So nice, Bjork's on there.

That's a lot of merchandise being sold there!

Well, hooray for Kylie and Ayu for making it there!

wow congrats ayu. ^^

:no bah... more shame to bear...

Just remember that many of those are or were cassets, so they were cheaper.

Very cool,Well done Ayumi.

Thanks for the chart.

Oh it's ONLY counting sales from 98-06? That would explain why B'z isn't even higher up on the list.

^no wut i meant was ayu's sales were from the start of her career to the present. the person i replied to thought it was only sales till 2000.

oh wow andy lau sold more than ayu! AND george michael! I am happy!

and yes andy lau can selll more than ayu because andy lau must have released over 50 albums already

^that doesnt really mean anything. a good chunk of his albums are cantonese, n hk is such a limited market. BoA has released as many albums as ayu (if u include korea) yet she hasnt pass 10m yet.