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"750 million" Why don't people believe this figure

Re: AW: "750 million" Why don't people believe this figure

Datsymay said:
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry has just published its updated list of the 150 highest selling artists ever.

The full top 10 goes as follow:
01. The Beatles 40 400,000,000 UK 60s (1962-1970) Rock/Pop Guinness/EMI
02. Michael Jackson 14 350,000,000 US 70s-00s (1979-) Pop/R&B MJ Stats
03. Elvis Presley 150 300,000,000 US 50s-70s (1956-1977) Country/Rock
04. Madonna 16 275,000,000 US 80s-00s (1984-) Pop WBR [1]
05. Nana Mouskouri 450 250,000,000 Greece 60s-00s (1959-) Pop [2][3]
06. Cliff Richard 60 250,000,000 UK 50s-00s (1959-1969,1977-1979,1986-1999) Rock/Pop [4]
07.The Rolling Stones 54 ~250,000,000 UK 60s-00s (1964-1981) Rock 60.5 million in the US [5]
08. Mariah Carey 14 230,000,000 US 90s-00s (1990-) Pop/R&B
09. 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
Click to expand...

Yep I remember this list and as far as I remember this was from 2004/2005. So according to this list Michael is the biggest selling solo artist of all time and The Beatles are biggest selling artists of all time. Since then Michael has sold a few more million plus a lot of Michael's albums haven't been recertified in years.
 
Re: AW: "750 million" Why don't people believe this figure

AGB said:
Yep I remember this list and as far as I remember this was from 2004/2005. So according to this list Michael is the biggest selling solo artist of all time and The Beatles are biggest selling artists of all time. Since then Michael has sold a few more million plus a lot of Michael's albums haven't been recertified in years.
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Yes indeed, and I think at one point they did add all the Jacksons work to make him surpass even the beatles when all their work is added together. Furthermore when you look at the proportion of albums to sales, MJ surpass them all.:D

The number after the name represents the number of album released, ie Beatles=40 albums; Michael-14 albums, Elvis=150 albums. Now anyone who did maths at school should be able to tell you that if yopu want to work out who is the biggest seller, you need to work out the average sale per album, by adding up the number of albums and divide it by the number of sales. eg
beatles 400,000000 divided by 40 albums=10,000,000 per sale

Michael 350,000,000 divided by 14 albums=25milion per sale per album

Elvis ; 300,000000 divided by 150 albums-2milion albums per sale.
This is the long and short of it.

Michael Jackson is the biggest selling artist there has ever been and the world just does not want to talk about it and this chart represents the number of albums sold not who is the biggest artist, so they should add all of Michaels albums including that of J5 and Jacksons. In any case MJ ic streets away from the rest of the pack.
Imagine Michael making 150 albums.
 
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Re: AW: "750 million" Why don't people believe this figure

Datsymay said:
Furthermore when you look at the proportion of albums to sales, MJ surpass them all.:D
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Excellent point

Datsymay said:
Michael Jackson is the biggest selling artist there has ever been and the world just does not want to talk about it and this chart represents the number of albums sold not who is the biggest artist, so they should add all of Michaels albums including that of J5 and Jacksons. In any case MJ ic streets away from the rest of the pack.
Imagine Michael making 150 albums.
Click to expand...

Agreed :)
 
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Re: AW: "750 million" Why don't people believe this figure

Arabian Knight said:
Excellent point



Agreed :)
Click to expand...

Thank you.All it takes isbasic maths to see the logic, but the mediadoesn't want to see it. It is too frightening.:p



Well here is the rest of the list if anyone is interested.:D

Here's the rest of the list in case anyone's interested:

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
 
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Re: AW: "750 million" Why don't people believe this figure

The Jacksons were one of the biggest bands yet no one hardly speak of them.
They come up equal with U2 even though they stopped performong a while ago, even so they are number 5 on the list for bands, they should be getting much more respect.
 
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AW: Re: AW: "750 million" Why don't people believe this figure

Datsymay said:
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry has just published its updated list of the 150 highest selling artists ever.
Click to expand...

Oh, yes... do you have a source or did you just lift it off Wikipedia? And what do you mean with "just published"? That list is making it's round since quite some time now and no one really was able to proof if it is indeed an official list, as it is no where to be found on ifpi.org!
 
Re: AW: Re: AW: "750 million" Why don't people believe this figure

PatrickS77 said:
Oh, yes... do you have a source or did you just lift it off Wikipedia? And what do you mean with "just published"? That list is making it's round since quite some time now and no one really was able to proof if it is indeed an official list, as it is no where to be found on ifpi.org!
Click to expand...

It isn't just pulled off from wikipedia. It was an actual list published by the IFPI in 2005 and was on their website and then was published in other places but has since been taken down because it is out of date, a lot of artists sales have increased since then.
 
I didn't see it on their site, AGB, and I'm talking about 2005 so unless they took it off, somebody needs to show proof like... a screenshot of it. If not, SORRY. :lol:
 
And record labels ALWAYS boost people's sales like the Jackson 5 has done. Michael's own people are claiming 750 million but I'm thinking he did somewhere around 250 million albums, LPs, CDs, and cassettes from full length recordings and around 50-60 million singles from CDs, cassettes and vinyls of songs while all the other MILLIONS come from video/VHS and DVD sales. Maybe that's why they came up with that number. You don't add group sales to solo artist stats unless they had to make that possible to explain why Diana Ross had more songs altogether than she did, lol. Americans and Europeans think differently it seems like. We think solo and group should be separate, but Europeans tally all that up. ;) So maybe that's why so many sales have been boosted of ANY ARTIST once they are known worldwide.
 
troubleman84 said:
I didn't see it on their site, AGB, and I'm talking about 2005 so unless they took it off, somebody needs to show proof like... a screenshot of it. If not, SORRY. :lol:
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Well that's fine if you don't believe, at the end of the day I know I'm not lying :). The list stated for each artists the total amount of records sold and that included both albums and singles.
 
AGB said:
Well that's fine if you don't believe, at the end of the day I know I'm not lying :). The list stated for each artists the total amount of records sold and that included both albums and singles.
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Riiiiight... now the info with ALL those artists ARE from Wikipedia but OF COURSE to "prove it", they link to other sites. :eek:fftopic:
 
At the time I was making estimations on Beatles', Elvis' and Jackson's sales there was no any IFPI list yet, but the figures match closely. And, of course, there is no wonder since I used only official published information either from labels or from higher executive people from those companies which would allow calculate figures. This just shows that some careful indirect information gathering and analysis can bring applicable results even when we have nothing officially declared as fact yet. If would advise to fans in the future use such methods more (other than out of the blue guessings).

from spring 2005 said:
Beatles, Presley, Jackson sales are heavily incorrect

First of all, people should know that EMI executive said in 2001 (sorry, no link) that USA were about half of all Beatles catalogue sales. Lets do the math: USA's RIAA wholesales are: 168 million albums + 22 million singles = 190 million * 2 ~= 380 million. Even taking into consideration the developments of market in the last 10-20 years, when third country markets (after USA and UK) grew considerably, there is no way how sales figures could be about billion. More rational estimation of sales of Beatles are 400 million records worldwide.

Elvis' half billion worldwide estimation looks more reliable, at the first sight, but more than 2/3 of his sales are said to be domestic, and from the rest quantity considerable part is UK. He sold about 121 million albums in the USA (certified 116m and prior to RIAA's certifications 5m) and about 60 million singles. This means that globally Elvis sold like 300 million records (singles are like 100 million of that quantity).

Also, when we estimate market's volume in 50s-60s-70s, we should remember that prior to Jackson's "Thriller" album (1982) the highest worldwide seller was Beatles' "Sergent Pepper..." with 14 million copies (globally). "Thriller" did 32 million to the 1984 and 40 million to the end of 1985 (Now "Thriller" sales are 59 million worldwide). Jackson sold 20 million copies of his album outside of USA.

Additionally, to see rational sales figures for Beatles and Elvis people should know that SoundScan counted for Beatles in the USA in 1991-2004 years about 19 million copies of all of their albums, and global sales for that period are estimated in quantity of about 50 million copies, including 27 million copies of Beatles' "#1s" album. Notice that without super promoted and successful #1s albums sales for 14 years would be about 23 million copies worldwide. This calculation is the answer for those people who worry that RIAA does not certify albums before 0,5 million copies sold, hence cumulative RIAA sales could not include many records that did not reach that volume of sales. SoundScan does not depend on this, it counts everything, each unit possible, and it showed that the volume of uncertified by RIAA albums can not be significant.

Well, this sales rate SoundScan showed makes Beatles/Elvis sales are no more than 15-30 million a decade. For comparison, Michael Jackson sells like 25-35 million a decade extrapolated -- if calculated on the basis of "silent years" (no promotion, no releases, no nothing: like 1990, 1994, 1998, 1999, 2000, et cetera, when Jackson's pace is about 2.5-3.5 million albums a year).

This means that there is technically no way how Beatles could sell billion records or Elvis sell half billion records worldwide. To answer Tony Galvin's doubts about how RIAA counts albums with different ID#s, I can say they add-up everything to one unit. Galvin estimates that domestic
cumulative sales of Elvis' albums are about 160 million, he adds 45 million to RIAA figure because there were a lot of albums that sold below 0.5 million copies, hence uncertified, as well as albums with different ID#s.
(Galvin's article: http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/500_million_elvis_fans_cant_be_wrong_or_can_they.shtml)
However, as I said above, all the facually same albums, though with different colours, covers, ID#s, et cetera, are always united/grouped/counted as one. So RIAA's 116 million figure can be actually expanded to about than like 130 million for Elvis' USA album sales.

Estimation of US/World ratios that listed in the article this discussion created for is not applicable towards Michael Jackson. His USA sales are about 27% of global ones, he is the most international USA artist/group. In Iraq and China children did not knew who Bush or the Pope was, but they knew how to Moonwalk. 2200 journalists from 34 countries from five continents were covering Jackson's trial -- thrice bigger than any other act like OJ
Simpson or Scott Peterson or whoever else before in the world. In fact, this was huger or equal than any biggest international event ever happened in history. Jackson had the biggest international tour worldwide, visiting like, in his tours, 40 countries with up to 15 million tickets sold abroad.

In 2000s, Jackson sold about 25 million records worldwide, and only like 5 million of those sales were in the USA.

(In 1991, Jackson released album "Dangerous", which wholesold 14 million copies in 14 days, the records that was not beaten ever since. Guinness book is incorrect here again, claiming that sale of 13 million copies of Beatles' #1s is record).

Jackson's Epic Records (ER) worldwide solo albums wholesales are about 210 million (grows 3 million each year without new releases or promotion). For the USA market, RIAA certifies wholesales, and USA is 27% of world sales, and ratio is 3.7. Plus about 70 million ER solo singles ~= 285 million ER solo records. In 1990, Motown said they sold to that date about 30 million solo records of Michael Jackson. To this date, the quantity can be estimated
to be like 45 million. This makes Jackson's sales about 330 million solo records worldwide.

In 1984 Motown said they sold 110 million records of "Jackson 5" group. In 1990, ER said they sold 30 million records of "The Jacksons" group. To this day, estimation gives that those two groups' cumulative sales are abuot 170 million records. Thus, there are about 500 million records with Jackson's voice and name, of which about 330 million are solo records.

That is why Jackson was the "Artist of Millennium" by World Music Awards, official IFPI partner (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), in 2000, as well as the biggest selling artist of all time in 1996 and 1993. It was not Elvis Presley, Iglesias, Elton John or whoever else.


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


To answer my own question, yes, Michael Jackson is the biggest selling solo artist of all-time.

MICHAEL JACKSON
Solo Motown Albums: 20 Million
Solo Motown Singles: 14 Million
Solo Epic Albums: 230 Million
Solo Epic Singles: 70 Million
TOTAL = 330 Million

ELVIS PRESLEY
US Albums: 116.5 Million
US Singles: 50 Million
US Total: 166.5 Million

According to his offical website...
QUOTE
It is estimated that 60% of these sales have been in the United States and 40% in other countries.


So if 166.5 Million is 60% of his worldwide sales, than his worldwide sales must be approximately 280 Million.

Worldwide total = 280 Million

So, as you can see, Michael Jackson is the biggest selling solo artist of all-time. I'm pretty sure the Beatles might have the upper hand on him, but they aren't solo, they're a group.


Reading the wikipedia chart, it's also worth considering that if the figures were closer i.e. a tie, then MJ would win hands down as compared to Elvis' 150+ number of albums, MJ's is just across 14 releases which is quite incredible...


Sources for Jackson's current wholesales figure estimation*:
1) Motown Records press-releases, announcements, conferences for Jackson Five and Michael Jackson sales;
2) Epic Records/CBS Records press-releases, announcements, conferences for The Jackson's sales;
3) Epic Records/Sony Music Entertainment press-releases, announcements, conferences for Michael Jackson's sales;
4) Michael Jackson and Rodney Jerkins announcements;
5) SoundScan statistics for USA data;
6) RIAA certifications volume and timing statistics for USA data;
7) Internal source from ER/SME, published by Captain Eo Productions (such as single's sales).

For other mentioned sellers industry news media reports are used, and IFPI.

* -- sales are wholesale shipments
Click to expand...
 
troubleman84 said:
Riiiiight... now the info with ALL those artists ARE from Wikipedia but OF COURSE to "prove it", they link to other sites. :eek:fftopic:
Click to expand...

I'm just saying that when I saw that list it wasn't from wikipedia. Anyway I don't want to argue about it, it's not that important. Michael's engraved in music history anyway because he made such a huge impact on the entertainment world.
 
denisrs said:
At the time I was making estimations on Beatles', Elvis' and Jackson's sales there was no any IFPI list yet, but the figures match closely. And, of course, there is no wonder since I used only official published information either from labels or from higher executive people from those companies which would allow calculate figures. This just shows that some careful indirect information gathering and analysis can bring applicable results even when we have nothing officially declared as fact yet. If would advise to fans in the future use such methods more (other than out of the blue guessings).
Click to expand...

Thank you for bringing it back...again. :lol:
 
Re: AW: Re: "750 million" Why don't people believe this figure

PatrickS77 said:
Oh, yes... like the Beatles and Elvis don't!? Also no one never has pirated their works, right?? LOL, sorry... but this discussion is ridiculous... either you believe it or you don't! But all 3 mentioned artists have a strong case and there will never be a confirmation on who's actually sold most!
Click to expand...


I never said anything about Legends like Beatles and Elvis,did I??


I just said that its possible to sell a total 750 million.
 
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