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The top 15 highest selling female artists of the SoundScan era |
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#1 |
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Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 57
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The top 15 highest selling female artists of the SoundScan era
This includes US album sales from 1991 onwards. It's solo artists only. Someone on the ATRL forum compiled it.
1) Mariah Carey (54,209,000) 2) Celine Dion (52,129,000) 3) Shania Twain (34,250,000) 4) Britney Spears (33,300,000) 5) Reba McEntire (30,118,000) 6) Madonna (29,300,000) 7) Taylor Swift (27,100,000) 8) Whitney Houston (26,716,000) 9) Enya (26,623,000) 10) Mary J Blige (24,500,000) 11) Cher (22,411,000) 12) LeAnn Rimes (21,650,000) 13) Alanis Morssiette (20,658,000) 14) Faith Hill (20,105,000) 15) Janet Jackson (20,092,931) |
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#2 |
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I find it very impressive that Taylor Swift has made it onto this list, considering she started around the time album sales were starting to see a decline. Just proves how much of a big star she has become in recent years. Her album sales continue to be strong to this present day.
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#3 |
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Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: North of England
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Seeing my girls Mary and Janet on that list makes me smile
![]() Surprised Beyonce didn't make it into the top 10 though. |
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#4 |
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Join Date: Mar 2011
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surprised that Beyonce, Rihanna, Katy Perry are not on the list
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#5 |
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Join Date: Jun 2012
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Happy to see most of them on that list. Was pretty shocked to see LeAnn though. I imagine with the exception of Taylor, those sales will remain quite close to what they are now.
According to the Wiki certifications of Beyoncé, Rihanna and Katy, they've only sold 12, 8.5 and 4 million albums respectively in the US so quite a long way off the list really. |
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#6 |
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Quote:
surprised that Beyonce, Rihanna, Katy Perry are not on the list
As for Beyonce, maybe in a few more albums she will make the list As for Taylor, her albums normally sell at least 5-6 million per album. Not a shock Enya and LeAnn rimes surprise me the most. I knew they were successful in their own right but never knew they sold so many albums. |
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#7 |
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Join Date: Nov 2011
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Quote:
I find it very impressive that Taylor Swift has made it onto this list, considering she started around the time album sales were starting to see a decline. Just proves how much of a big star she has become in recent years. Her album sales continue to be strong to this present day.
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#8 |
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Seeing Britney on that list makes me happy
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#9 |
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It's because Taylor started off as country which is a huge genre stateside then she did ''country-pop'' and now pop meaning she straddles the two largest genre's see Shania Twain.
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#10 |
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Join Date: Aug 2010
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Thats only american female sales in the USA..pretty sure adele is in the mix.
seems like bollocks. |
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#11 |
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Quote:
Thats very true. 5 of those on the list are country artists. There are strong rumours that Christina's next album will be country influence. Be interesting to see if that direction works for her.
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#12 |
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its a shame for Cher, Tina, Madonna and Whitney as they had huge selling albums in the 80s too.
Madonna, Whitney - 80s big album sellers Mariah, Celine, Shania, Janis - clearly were 90s big sellers Britney late 90s - 00s big seller Gaga and Taylor late 00s to 10's big seller Adele 21 - need I say any more? Rihanna, Katy P and Ri-Ri have never been big album sellers but this is changing. Madonna has perhaps had the biggest album sales over the most decades. 2m world wide is currently now the benchmark as global success. It used to be 10m album sales were outstanding 5m a global success Now it is 5m as outstanding and 2m as a global success.... The climate has changed |
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#13 |
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the list of belling selling albums is very telling
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...selling_albums |
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#14 |
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Quote:
the list of belling selling albums is very telling
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...selling_albums |
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#15 |
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Quote:
Thats only american female sales in the USA..pretty sure adele is in the mix.
seems like bollocks. |
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#16 |
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Quote:
surprised that Beyonce, Rihanna, Katy Perry are not on the list
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#17 |
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Quote:
This includes US album sales from 1991 onwards. It's solo artists only. Someone on the ATRL forum compiled it.
1) Mariah Carey (54,209,000) 2) Celine Dion (52,129,000) 3) Shania Twain (34,250,000) 4) Britney Spears (33,300,000) 5) Reba McEntire (30,118,000) 6) Madonna (29,300,000) 7) Taylor Swift (27,100,000) 8) Whitney Houston (26,716,000) 9) Enya (26,623,000) 10) Mary J Blige (24,500,000) 11) Cher (22,411,000) 12) LeAnn Rimes (21,650,000) 13) Alanis Morssiette (20,658,000) 14) Faith Hill (20,105,000) 15) Janet Jackson (20,092,931) |
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#18 |
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Join Date: May 2012
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Quote:
Madonna's album sales are simply outstanding. To have one album sell over 25 million is impressive but to have several really does make your jaw hit the floor. It many ways it was obvious that sort of thing couldn't be sustained but what amazes me most is the fact Music sold 4 million in 7 days! When at her peak Madonna really was untouchable. It really makes me wonder just how much MORE she would have sold if downloads had been around back then.
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#19 |
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Join Date: Dec 2014
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Mary J Blige's US album sales dipped in the past 5 or 6 years. But until her 2005 album The Breakthrough, she was selling very well. One of those R&B artists who crossed over legitimately.
Also, how many sales does Toni Braxton have? The sales for her first two album were incredible. Is the list only compiling solo artists? I'm pretty sure TLC would rank pretty well. CrazySexyCool went Diamond in America and Fan Mail sold strongly too. |
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#20 |
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Join Date: Jun 2011
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Quote:
Mary J Blige's US album sales dipped in the past 5 or 6 years. But until her 2005 album The Breakthrough, she was selling very well. One of those R&B artists who crossed over legitimately.
Also, how many sales does Toni Braxton have? The sales for her first two album were incredible. Is the list only compiling solo artists? I'm pretty sure TLC would rank pretty well. CrazySexyCool went Diamond in America and Fan Mail sold strongly too. TLC would rank high though if it was based on girl groups. Now i looked into Toni's US sales First album - 8 million 2nd album - 8 million 3rd album - 2 million 4th album - 500k 5th album - 300k 6th album - 400k 7th album - 150k 8th album - 200k Greatest hits - 500k I think she falls somewhere in the top 20/25 |
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#21 |
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Join Date: Sep 2014
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Quote:
Madonna's album sales are simply outstanding. To have one album sell over 25 million is impressive but to have several really does make your jaw hit the floor. It many ways it was obvious that sort of thing couldn't be sustained but what amazes me most is the fact Music sold 4 million in 7 days! When at her peak Madonna really was untouchable. It really makes me wonder just how much MORE she would have sold if downloads had been around back then.
It wasn’t only Madonna who achieved huge record sales like that in the 1980s. Whitney Houston’s debut album has sold over 25 million copies worldwide, including 13 million in the US alone (more than any Madonna album), and her second album has sold over 20 million copies worldwide. She has also sold over 45 million copies of the 1992 soundtrack to The Bodyguard. She probably would've sold more albums than Madonna had she released more music in the 1980s and 1990s. Celine Dion has released two albums that have both sold over 30 million copies worldwide and two others that have both sold over 20 million copies worldwide. Mariah Carey has released two albums that have sold over 30 million copies and 25 million copies worldwide. Shania Twain and Britney Spears have both released two albums that have sold over 30 million and 20 million copies worldwide. Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette has sold over 30 million copies worldwide. It's strange that none of Madonna's studio albums have reached the 30 million sales mark worldwide. The Immaculate collection has, but it's a greatest hits album. I wonder why Whitney, Britney, Mariah, Shania, Celine and Alanis all sold 30 million copies of a studio album at the peak of their careers but Madonna didn't. Even Adele has managed to. By the way, The Spice Girls reportedly sold five million copies of Spiceworld in one week in 1997. Alanis Morissette sold over four million copies of Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie in one week in 1998. On a side note, Michael Jackson’s album sales dwarf Madonna’s. Thriller has sold an estimated 65 million copies worldwide which is roughly what Madonna’s three biggest selling albums have sold combined. Thriller has sold 30 million copies in the US which is nearly half of Madonna’s total US record sales to date. Bad and Dangerous have both sold well over 30 million copies worldwide and Off the Wall and HIStory have both sold over 20 million copies worldwide. |
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#22 |
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Join Date: Jan 2015
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Quote:
It wasn’t only Madonna who achieved huge record sales like that in the 1980s. Whitney Houston’s debut album has sold over 25 million copies worldwide, including 13 million in the US alone (more than any Madonna album), and her second album has sold over 20 million copies worldwide. She has also sold over 45 million copies of the 1992 soundtrack to The Bodyguard. She probably would've sold more albums than Madonna had she released more music in the 1980s and 1990s.
Celine Dion has released two albums that have both sold over 30 million copies worldwide and two others that have both sold over 20 million copies worldwide. Mariah Carey has released two albums that have sold over 30 million copies and 25 million copies worldwide. Shania Twain and Britney Spears have both released two albums that have sold over 30 million and 20 million copies worldwide. Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette has sold over 30 million copies worldwide. It's strange that none of Madonna's studio albums have reached the 30 million sales mark worldwide. The Immaculate collection has, but it's a greatest hits album. I wonder why Whitney, Britney, Mariah, Shania, Celine and Alanis all sold 30 million copies of a studio album at the peak of their careers but Madonna didn't. Even Adele has managed to. By the way, The Spice Girls reportedly sold five million copies of Spiceworld in one week in 1997. Alanis Morissette sold over four million copies of Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie in one week in 1998. On a side note, Michael Jackson’s album sales dwarf Madonna’s. Thriller has sold an estimated 65 million copies worldwide which is roughly what Madonna’s three biggest selling albums have sold combined. Thriller has sold 30 million copies in the US which is nearly half of Madonna’s total US record sales to date. Bad and Dangerous have both sold well over 30 million copies worldwide and Off the Wall and HIStory have both sold over 20 million copies worldwide. I imagine the reason Madonna falls short is because she has always managed to split opinion right down the middle with her views and opinions. Madonna has never been the golden girl next door or America's Sweetheart and that is why Madonna is where she is. Madonna is not and has never been a safe artist. So keep posting all these stats everytime I post in an effort to convince yourself Madonna isn't that great but I should let you know they are irrelevant to me and at the end of the day Madonna will remain the biggest selling female of all time, at least for the foreseeable, no matter how much you try to discredit that. |
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#23 |
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Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: US
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I'm not surprised that Mariah and Celine are #1 and #2. Their album and single sales during the 1990s were incredible. Mariah had 14 #1 hit singles on the Hot 100 between 1990 and 1999 alone and 18 in total, the most by a female artist. One Sweet Day spent an incredible 16 weeks at #1 in the mid-1990s (still the longest-running #1 in history) and We Belong Together spent 14 weeks at #1. Billboard named We Belong Together the most successful song between 2000 and 2009. Mariah has spent a total of 79 weeks at #1 on the Hot 100, the most by any artist. She was also the first female artist to have three singles debut at #1 and the first female artist to have her first five singles all hit #1. Music Box has sold over 30 million copies worldwide, and Daydream has sold over 25 million copies worldwide. She owned the 1990s. Mariah Carey, Celine Dion and Whitney Houston are the only female artists to have released singles that have sold 15 million copies worldwide. Amazing.
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#24 |
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Join Date: Aug 2012
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Did Kylie not make this list?!! lol
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#25 |
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I'm not surprised that Mariah and Celine are #1 and #2. Their album and single sales during the 1990s were incredible. Mariah had 14 #1 hit singles on the Hot 100 between 1990 and 1999 alone and 18 in total, the most by a female artist. One Sweet Day spent an incredible 16 weeks at #1 in the mid-1990s (still the longest-running #1 in history) and We Belong Together spent 14 weeks at #1. Billboard named We Belong Together the most successful song between 2000 and 2009. Mariah has spent a total of 79 weeks at #1 on the Hot 100, the most by any artist. She was also the first female artist to have three singles debut at #1 and the first female artist to have her first five singles all hit #1. Music Box has sold over 30 million copies worldwide, and Daydream has sold over 25 million copies worldwide. She owned the 1990s. Mariah Carey, Celine Dion and Whitney Houston are the only female artists to have released singles that have sold 15 million copies worldwide. Amazing.
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