Best-Selling Music Artists 1969-2000 WAIT WHAT!? 

That Billy Joel's consistency didn't catch your eye.

ABBA? Didn’t reflect their presence

Didn’t know Sinatra would have been in the top ten as late as 1969. Guess my parents generation was still buying records! 😉😁

​@w.geoffreyspaulding6588 surprisingly it was the kickoff to the summer love, May 1969, Frank released the album and what would become his signature song, "My Way".

How much the level of musicianship and quality fell OFF the Cliff after 2000. Thanks Auto-Tune!

The 70’s were the best decade for music

Everybody feels that the music during their teen years is the best. For me it’s the80s.

@@ronnix23 we are mainly attached to our carefree years.Too human,too physical and justified.

@@ronnix23 The 80s were great too.

Imo, 1971 to 1978 were the peak years. I was between 8 and 16 years old at the time. Still some great stuff after and before, but this is what I percieve as the apex.

I think like a prayer and the Vogue single combined with the immaculate collection and the blonde ambition tour, truth or dare and justify my love created that massive numb. I know I’m breathless wasn’t a big seller on its own but the vogue single was massive. She could do no wrong in that era. I’m so boggled that we didn’t see Simon and Garfunkel and I feel like Queen should have been higher up especially in 1981/1982 with the release of the game album.

Madonna passing MJ in 1990-1991 was because of The Immaculate Collection, which still remains her biggest selling album to date. And ofc Vogue helped, I'm breathless and the blonde ambition tour. But I'm breathless was actually her worst selling album at that time because it's a jazz album

Absolutely, and the length of time between albums got larger so you see wide variations when that groups big albums came out. I did expect to see a big jump for 'dark side of the moon' that wasn't there.

What was most shocking was Eminem pretty much being the top from 1999 to 2007. A rapper, in the age of the Internet. He pretty much saved CDs and created a landscape for the likes of Lil Wayne and the others by the late-2000s. Madonna is a weird case. Kind of the female Michael Jackson in many ways and more 'pop' than Tina Turner and other big women around this time. She's clearly crazy and not extremely talented, with weird songs, and fairly generic pop music. She was just one of the best at it before everybody else, but you see a lot of MJ in her and pretty much everybody else post-1982. But, my real realisation is that Elvis might be the best of all time. He stayed way up there from about 1955 to the 1990s, and never really left America to tour, either. He was a master of every possible genre, had a very great, unique natural voice, could dance quite well, was very good-looking, had good song-writers, and was highly popular across the generations. He massively inspired MJ, for one. Without Elvis, this video likely wouldn't even exist. He single-handedly saved music, along with Jerry Lee Lewis, Ben. E. King, The Beatles, and so on. But, again: The Beatles merely copied Elvis for many years (very clear in their early stuff, and some of them are direct covers of older music, such as Twist and Shout). Queen now has sold the most if we judge by streams and such, but a lot of that is since about 2015. Though they were still massive in the 1980s and sold well, they largely died in the 1990s when Freddie did, and music radically changed. But, they are big again due to their great music and Freddie's natural voice. This makes me think Queen is likely the greatest band of all time, and the next 10 years might just prove that even more. Don't forget: Queen was going very strong since about 1975! Not quite as early as the others, but a long time given that they have 6 of the best-selling songs of all time according to some datasets (with MJ, U2, and AC/DC in second place with 4), and they had some of the best and most popular albums of the 1980s and early-1990s, and still did well in the 1970s. If Freddie had lived, they'd likely be the greatest by far (at least into the 2000s). Still: the fact Eminem cuts through like glass is very interesting. I've largely put that down to (a) his clarity of speech; (b) his talent (which wider than you might assume); and (c) his extreme speech/freedom of speech (in an age that was drowned by either anti-freedom of speech and dullness or simple girl and boy groups, as Em often talks about). Honestly, without Eminem, music would be dead and look horrible post-1990 or so (at least for the biggest sales). On the other hand, Em was so good and singular that it meant that music really crashed after Em fell off (around 2009). Now, I think Em is still the only great rapper in 2024, and one of the best musicians. Many other bands are still going, but I dislike almost all young/new music since the 2000s. I dislike K-Pop, Madonna, Swift, Drake -- all of them. From rock to rap. I dislike it all. The only areas I really care about are Slipknot, Foo Fighters, Tool, and some other older bands that still make decent music. But even here, I don't love these bands. I like old Foo Fighters, though. I also like AC/DC and much more. Cultures change as generations change, and technology. You can clearly see this, and I also feel like Michael Jackson left a crushing hole in pop, which was never really filled. Eminem merely ripped it apart. Pop died with MJ/Em. Queen was a mixture of all genres, and Freddie died in 1991, to get a sense of the vast time differences here. It's 2024 now. Who is the King of Pop, or rock? Elvis and Queen and MJ and EM still stand firm. Indeed, I think Queen, Elvis, and Eminem were some of the best-selling artists online downloads/streams in 2023, but you can check that if you want. A lot of Gen-Z are going back to the great music of the past, so I think this will become more common, and the likes of Drake and K-Pop will keep going down in the future. But, we'll see. :)

Madonna’s best selling studio album is True Blue… which… is sort of sad honestly because aside from the hits, the album as a whole is not among her best. Creatively, her peak was in the 90s

Nice one lol

Excellent.

'These numbers must have been based US sales - there is no way on earth that Garth Brooks had that kind of impact in the UK, for example.' Apart from The Beatles and Elvis I doubt it too.Something does not click right to the puzzle no matter what the original video claims..

They’re based on sales worldwide according to the original video description

U.S only I would say

@@alexioverdo5225 You need to check world population charts, and also consider the wealth in the US.

@@libertyresearch-iu4fy Yea,Apart from the wealth Latin America,Asia have also a big market with lots of domestic acts,But then there's also Europe which was/is even more influential with UK,Germany, being the biggest continental markets without ignoring the support of other markets such a France and Spain.I'm also very much surprised that Abba with sales of over 380 million records around 2000 and over 400millions up to now (as also reported on BBC late '21 and more latetly 2023 by BPI )are missing this list ....

i wonder if they only started calclating sales,compareing them and making a record of them a few years after the charts were up and running.or if the person who made this vid didn't have the complete numbers to do it. i would have loved to see which motown groups were popular.

People haven't always been able to buy albums, and radio wasn't even that popular for music early on. A lot of the early charts measured sheet music sales and records in juke boxes. The record sales charts were not around all that early either.

@@libertyresearch-iu4fy the Billboard and Cashbox charts were around at least since the 50s and sheet music sales weren't used for tabulation since around 30s-40s when Bing Crosby was the most popular.

Agree.

Seeing Madonna’s lol. King and Queen 4ever

True. I never understood how Britney Spears got to be so popular. Her voice/music grated on my nerves.

The competition was so strong lol

@SalvoG yes it was, but you can see when their music started to get hot and then, obviously, the ones with the most staying power.

Yes, good point about Garth Brooks. I vaguely remember people thinking he was a bit of a joke. About Sinatra - I was growing up in the 60s and I can remember hearing him a lot, when my parents had Radio 2 on, or The Light Programme, whatever it was called in those days. All those crooners like Dean Martin and Andy Williams. 'My Way' came out in 1969, so Frank being there at the start was reasonable to me.

@@markharris1125 That makes sense about Sinatra. I guess the crossover between pre-rock and rock and roll. I remember him, but I always associated him with the older movies. I would have put him even pre-Doris Day.

@@karehelene I still think he had one of the best voices of the recording age, along with Elvis. When I made my comment about Garth Brooks, I actually think I was picturing Billy Achy-Breaky Cyrus. Shows how much I care about Country! Apparently his biggest hit in the UK was 'The Red Strokes' in 1994. Just listened, never heard it before, nicely sung and played but dull as dishwater.

@@markharris1125 I agree Frank Sinatra had a wonderful voice. I, too, grew up in the 60's and I would have placed him more 40's and 50's. I don't know when the billboard charts started, but rightly or wrongly, I think of them as more of a product of the rock n roll era vs. swing, jazz eras. As for Garth Brooks, I'm not a country fan either. I know his name because I have family that are. I couldn't name a single song he's recorded, though I wouldn't be surprised if I have heard some of his music.

@@markharris1125 Its funny how time warps in our heads. I remember seeing variety shows with Dean Martin, Andy Williams and Frank Sinatra. My freshman high school class, maybe 8th grade class, had a field trip to see the Andy Williams Show. But I think in my head I relate them to movies instead of chart toppers.

Billy Joel is definitely worth a listen.

Don't forget that this began in 1969. If it had started in 64, the Beatles would have had five more years at the top and would then have been over 20 years on the list. This arbitrary cut off skews the results.

@@braemtes23 I haven't forgotten that? How's that remotely relevant? I'm commenting on the period covered by the video. Equally, if the period had continued beyond 2000, there'd be other artists in the 20+ years category. Really don't get the point of your comment.

🗑🗑🗑🗑

Any time you had a large jump, that is when you could expect that a big album had been released or someone died. This appears to be for worldwide sales, not US alone. Queen didn't appear until Night at the Opera came out in late '75, they hung around near the bottom, but did not take over first place until after The Game and Greatest Hits I (late '81) were released. 1983-1990 were nightmare years for Queen sales in the US, while they were the biggest thing since sliced bread everywhere else. The Eagles roared to the top in 1976/77 on the strength of Hotel California and maintained that into the '80's due to successful solo careers by Frey and Henley.

As I followed along through the years I thought of certain albums, and you could see the sales of that artist surge for a period. Some great memories were in there for me.

Beatles the best selling band,Elvis the b.s. soloist.

@@alexioverdo5225michael jackson shits on elvis presley by FAR… he dominated the 80s with just 2 albums, if he released as many projects as elvis he’d be even far more ahead.

@@amiramir-qg7xv Well maybe not maybe yes,we 'll never know.We can only speculate.It's just some available datas that estimate their sales.I think Michael is the 2nd best selling soloist after Elvis.Glad about it cause M.J. is a part of my Gen same way Elvis was ma father's Gen.Both hygely influential anyway.Hugs.

@@alexioverdo5225 no it’s not up for speculation i’m sorry… you can’t just judge based on US stats simply becasue in every other country on this planet michael jackson multiplied elvis’ sales. just becasue the elvis estate keep spewing out fake numbers and stats about his sales doesn’t make them true at all !

Also, MJ liked to abuse children. He should not be respected

It is an interesting chart, but it show quarterly earnings. It would be interesting to see cumulative earnings (adjusted for inflation). Example: Dark Side of the Moon was in the top two hundred for 981 weeks. That has to add up... but it is spread over 81 quarters.

@@ChrisJones-cs2zd Isn't 'Dark Side' the single most popular album of all time?

@@rk41gator I think Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' doubled it.

@@rk41gator Thriller and Back in Black managed to beat it (by how much depends on who's doing the counting though)

I would LOVE Salvo to check out Billy Joel. "Only the Good Die Young", "Piano Man", and "Movin' Out" are my favorites but his catalog is huge.

@@jodij6280 No love for the entire "Glass Houses"? lol!

@@thomasdempsey721 The Stranger is my favorite Billy Joel album.

@@jodij6280 'Allentown' for me. And 'Goodnight Saigon'. I'm sure he'll get to him one day!

As a non country fan, the two that crossed over were Garth Brooks and Shania Twain.

Haven't been to McD's in decades. But little kids seem to love it.

The McDonalds analogy has never really been a good one. McDonalds sell a lot because they're both easily accessible to a lot of people and they're relatively cheap. Vinyl, tapes and CD's cost pretty much the same, regardless of the artist and they were also distributed alike. Everything else regarding what is best is purely subjective and down to individual taste.

No the Beatles outsold him everywhere. Also Garth Brookes has now outsold him in the states

@@matthewashman1406 there's discrepancies in U.S. accounting methods. Even Garth Brooks admits everyone knows Elvis is ahead of him.

The Beach Boys would have been a dominant force in the Sixties, before this timeline started.

If the chart had gone back and started in 1962 or so, The Beachboys would have shown up…..probably would have made number one…along with The Supremes and other Motown groups. And it would have been cool to see when The Beatles arrived and how they just took,over.

The Beach Boys never had any big selling albums or Bob Seger and Purple had 1

He's listened to several Boston songs, not sure which album(s) but you can so a search on his page.

Neil Diamond was big in the 70s. His movie, The Jazz Singer, gave him a resurgence for a while in the early 80s.

No he's not lol

@@Noel-ji8nm I would direct you check the numbers and see that he is

@user-wc9df9bq1c He's had no hits in UK.

@@Noel-ji8nm that means nothing.

@user-wc9df9bq1c Then stop buying UK artist record sales.

I know about Abba,but i remember Elvis being reffered many times in the press as the billion+ seller and The Beatles estimations just underneath having being outsold by him with M.Jackson as a runner up..

Not touring? They were not even a band anymore as of 4/10/70..

Yeah, Madonna dominated the early 90s with Vogue (one of her biggest selling singles) and The Immaculate Collection (her biggest selling album to date) and ofc the iconic blonde ambition tour.

Madonna is in top ten to 1985 to 2005 . amazing