Who is the best artist/band to have sold over 200 million records?

I was kinda surprised to see The Drifters so high on the list... According to Wikipedia they've sold more albums than Eagles and Frank Sinatra combined. Of course, having had band of that name exist for over 50 years with various different lineups has probably helped their case.

The Drifters? Really?

The only way I know of Nana Mouskouri is by seeing 1-800 commercials on tv as a kid.

There's no instance that records worlwide record sales, and many of these figures are based on a single newspaper article, so they're probably not that accurate.

Wow, Cliff Richard. Had no idea.

No Quo, no credibility

Alla Pugacheva, Wei Wei, Tino Rossi - I had to google all y'all, I feel uncultured now

Tino Rossi - not the Status Quo guy, I'm afraid Tom

I knew about Alla Pugacheva and Tino Rossi, but Wei Wei was new to me. Though of course the Chinese market alone is enough to reach those sort of figures.

the drifters?

http://www.thedrifters.co.uk/about.php

The Drifters have sold in excess of 214 million singles and 114 million albums across the world...

Bob Marley would be my "serious" vote.

the rockist in me feels Herbert von Karajan as a simple conductor does not count. (you could say Mozart probably sold a billion records)

Objectively, these must be the best artists in the world, right?

Anybody who falls for this deserves the vortex of mental pain it leads to.

Yeah, if you go down that route, then the artist in the list who has sold the most is the answer to the question.

and it probably is anyway

so weird i haven't even heard of two or three of these. A toss up between, The Fabs, the King and ABBA for me.

Per the RIAA website, the Drifters don't even have a gold album, so they must be really huge everywhere but than the U.S.

Putting Herbert von Karajan in here is cheating, surely?

He is not an artist?

I dunno, they put his name on the cover, you don't see people shelling out for Florence and the Machine Conduct the Berlin Philharmonic.

Sue Perkins, amirite?

Florence looks a bit more like Su Pollard imo.

Alla Pugacheva, Wei Wei, Tino Rossi - I had to google all y'all, I feel uncultured now

(deja vu)

Per the RIAA website, the Drifters don't even have a gold album

Didn't we have some other thread somewhere about how the RIAA is totally unreliable for gold/platinum status tho?

Per the RIAA website, the Drifters don't even have a gold album, so they must be really huge everywhere but than the U.S.

They've sold twice as many singles as albums though. The list is based on total record sales (singles and albums), and The Drifters' glory days were during the era of the single.

Also, the RIAA database apparently dates only back to 1958. I searched for Bing Crosby, and found only two gold albums and no gold singles at all.

There's no instance that records worlwide record sales, and many of these figures are based on a single newspaper article, so they're probably not that accurate.

Probably, in a lot of cases, on record company's own figures on shipments -- not always trustworthy, especially since record companies are hardly an impartial source, and since shipment figures don't exclude returns. (As for the RIAA, I would think that, at least since Soundscan, their sales figures are more reliable than most other such sources. Which is not to say Soundscan catches all sales, obviously.)

I'm voting the Stones, fwiw.

Objectively, these must be the best artists in the world, right?

Anybody who falls for this deserves the vortex of mental pain it leads to.

Actually, I'm surprised how many quality acts there are on the list. Is there anyone on the list who wouldn't have released good music at least in some point of their career? Maybe Celine Dion, but anyone else?

xp Actually, shoot, scratch that -- RIAA doesn't use Soundscan, right? They track "shipments less potential returns," supposedly -- so almost by definition less precise than Nielsen figures.

And Celine Dion has released good music. (Don't know about the ones that other people googled up above.)

How is Garth Brooks not on this list? Does he only sell records in America?

Yes.

Isn't Wei Wei a panda?

No Wei?

xp They're listing Garth at 128 Million, which seems to be the current RIAA figure for him (which figure I believe counts double albums as two units each and five-disc limited-edition Walmart-exclusive box sets as five units each; his sales figures in the States have generally been inflated because the RIAA lets him do that, and more so -- again -- since returns are probably not precisely calculated into it.)

Zep FTW, BTW.

Voted Bing

I'm inclined to make a boring pick like Zep or Beatles, but instead I'll make a (less boring) pick and say Abba, in large part because they have the smallest catalog, making 200 million sales that much more impressive.

Abba, in large part because they have the smallest catalog

Surely they have as many studio albums as Zep. Plus compilations and boxsets (which Zep also has).

The Wiki list gets weirder as you move down it. Cher has sold 100M? Journey has outsold Kiss? Eurythmics have outsold Beach Boys?

Ok that last one really shocks me.

I'd take that wiki list with an even bigger pinch of salt than usual. I doubt very much that The Drifters have sold more than 100 million albums. They only had 4 albums makes the Billboard 200 and even those weren't big performers. I suspect the dread hand of zealous publicists is at work in a lot of these figures.

Kinda surprised Fela and Iron Maiden didn't make the cut ... going to have to really think about my vote, but it's prob. between Queen and AC/DC

Zep narrowly over the Bee Gees (whose best selling stuff is not their best anyway)

who the fuck is Wei Wei

Kinda surprised Fela and Iron Maiden didn't make the cut

I can fathom Iron Maiden (metal is international! lolz) but Fela...? Dude come on. You couldn't even find his records in the US for most of the 80s and 90s.

Surely they have as many studio albums as Zep. Plus compilations and boxsets (which Zep also has).

Eight studio LPs apiece, but Physical Graffiti is a double, and I don't think there's an Abba equivalent to Coda. As for actual tracks, Led Zep's are far fewer but much lengthier. The abundance of live Zep and Spanish-language Abba confuses things more. And Abba have about nine dozen redundant compilations fwiw...

I'll call it a draw, even though I'm aspie enough to spend an hour tonight calculating running times

Please note that utility data is included. In order to accurately estimate and verify rankings, individual meter data will need to be obtained.

the rolling motherfucking stones u fules

I can fathom Iron Maiden (metal is international! lolz)

Of course they are massively popular in S-America/Asia but very few of the albums sold there were ever legal pressings.

this basically is gonna come down to beatles v stones

beatles

deej is basically gonna shit his pants when MJ doesn't win

I doubt very much that The Drifters have sold more than 100 million albums. They only had 4 albums makes the Billboard 200 and even those weren't big performers

As stated above, these are "record sales" not "album sales," and the Drifters' numbers are almost definitely for singles -- They charted 36 on the Hot 100 between 1955 and 1966 (though only five of those went top 10). And that's only the U.S. obviously. Though come to think of it, do RIAA figures even include singles? Did they ever? Seriously doubt that Garth's or Mariah's U.S. #'s include CD singles (much less individual song downloads), for instance. And obviously, counting both singles and albums each as "units" is like including apples and oranges. Also doubt that the Drifters were actually much bigger anywhere else than in the US (though I could be wrong about that). So I'm skeptical too, actually.

deej is basically gonna shit his pants when MJ doesn't win

― the fool boy Shiplo (some dude), Wednesday, July 15, 2009 1:34 PM (26 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

???

voted for LZ

bcuz i think prince shouldnt be the 'obvious' winner of a 3-way poll w/ mj & madonna, obv im the biggest mj stan ever!!

you are so butthurt!!

the rolling motherfucking stones u fules

― ian, Wednesday, July 15, 2009 6:19 PM (47 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

feel kinda foolish for not knowing who SIX of these artists are

Out of these, Beatles obv.

Also doubt that the Drifters were actually much bigger anywhere else than in the US (though I could be wrong about that).

Maybe the fact their official website is thedrifters.co.uk and no thedrifters.com is a clue that they are?

As for the albums vs. singles thing, a lot of these figures include singles too. For example, Michael Jackson certainly hasn't sold 750 million albums; as someone noted in the RIP thread, that figure comes from an estimate of album sales + single sales + song downloads. I'm sure the majority of Bing Crosby's 500 million sales are singles too.

this is how ABBA take Zep, too - ABBA were an internationally huge pop chart sensation, and Zeppelin never released a single

[waffle record companies waffle]

I'll call it a draw, even though I'm aspie enough to spend an hour tonight calculating running times

― Stop wishing death on people just for the cool thread titles (Myonga Vön Bontee), Wednesday, July 15, 2009 2:04 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Please note that utility data is included. In order to accurately estimate and verify rankings, individual meter data will need to be obtained.

― Mariela Ure (jeff)

Hahahaha, wish I'd read the Lucas thread before that reply! Would've prevented some bafflement...

the rolling motherfucking stones u fules

― ian, Wednesday, July 15, 2009 6:19 PM (47 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 15 July 2009 19:07 (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

A+

Poor wei wei!

Michael Jackson 5

lolz

No Umm Kulthum?

probably would've voted Stones

Stones vs. Beatles vs. Zep vs. Marley is pretty tough. I'd probably vote Marley, but on the right day any of them could deserve it.

Justice has been served.

Only 3 votes for Elvis? That's kinda surprising, wouldn't have thought that Queen and Mariah Carey would place higher than him.

The poll standings seem about right, with less a disparity between the Beatles and Stones.

http://blog.ingamenow.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/gal_glasgow_big_snore.jpg

Wei Wei wuz robbed!

Yeah, wouldn't have expected the Beatles to win the Stones by such a large margin.

*fewer RIAA gold records for some acts than you'd expect xposts*

The RIAA requires (or used to require) an impartial outside audit of sales before they gave out gold and platinum records, which would run a risk of exposing any number of record label financial shenanigans. It's why no one on Motown got one until the late Seventies, for example.