Best-Selling Music Artists 1969 - 2019

Timeline history of most popular music artists from 1969 to 2019 ranked by yearly certified record sales. Numbers are worldwide and adjusted to twelve months trailing average.

Recent years data includes digital singles sales as reported by online music retailers and streaming services. This data aggregates multiple sources and can serve as popularity indicator across different medias such as album sales, radio broadcasting, digital copies sales and online streaming frequency.

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Data source: RIAA, IFPI, record companies

[calfman]

Psy is like that one kid that accidentally walks into the wrong classroom

[lovekookieever]

**Psy enters the chat**
Psy: Oppa Gangnam Style
**Psy leaves the chat**

[diegod]

Psy: Hi
*3 seconds later*
Psy left the chat.

[thomasodle]

It was cool to see the legends like The Beatles, Elvis, and Michael Jackson, Queen, etc stay up there for so long. Especially The Beatles, they had just stopped making music at the beginning of this chart and they were still up there for like 20 years

[rohankurani]

i can’t believe i watched lines moving for 10 minutes straight...

[azonprdcr]

I like how almost every artist beat Michael Jackson and then he puts out another hit song

[JOSEdb]

the thing that surprises me is that The Beatles were active only for 7 years, but were on the top for decades!

[avkashmenon]

(The 80s comes)
Michael Jackson : hold my beer 🍺

[vaeirin]

Luis Fonsi entered the chat:
-Despacito
Luis Fonci left the chat

[mysticlei]

Michael Jackson, Madonna👑, and Queen be like: excuse me im in a hurry!

[LOCOCOCO]

Psy: allow me to introduce myself.

Also Psy: Ight Ima head out.

[augustsveryown]

Michael Jackson ruled the 80s and 90s

Eminem ruled the 2000s

[koffiged]

Damn, Michael is like that finale stage boss that takes a lotta skills to beat

[deemillz]

Every time someone overtook Micheal Jackson he said *”NO”*

[bionicanseng]

Michael Jackson had a solid 17 years on top of the charts. What a career.

[jcortese]

The thing is that after about the late 2000s, I realize I've completely unfamiliar with every single artist up there, or maybe I've heard one song of theirs in an ad or something.

It's also interesting to see when certain albums hit. It's very obvious when "Thriller" and "Ray of Light" hit and when "Titanic" was released.

[amediumhorse]

Everyone Else: Makes many songs that sold

Luis Fonsi: Despacito

[skyzaid]

PSY comes in:

“I spray and walk away!”

[abbyh]

Elton John: imma just zoom
Michael Jackson: me too
Queen: me too
Madonna: me too
Kesha: imma just zoom up then zoom down
(Thanks for 500 likes!!!)

[adrianocasio]

Came here for Michael Jackson. Leaving here impressed!! MJ passed the top 10 in ONE year! And stayed #1 most of the time for 15 years! Despite the rumors!!!