List of biggest-selling British music artists

Last updated

This list documents Britain's best-selling music artists alphabetically [1] as well as by record sales. This page lists those artists who have had claims of over one million or more records in sales. The list is divided into numerous record-sales brackets within each of which, artists are listed in alphabetical order, rather than by number of records sold. The artists on the list are supported by third-party reliable sources, the sales-figures within which should represent a total number of sold albums, singles, compilation-albums, music videos as well as downloads of singles and full-length albums. This list holds no account of sales after the initial release dates, some artists keep on selling albums they originally released for instance in 1972. those albums sold over the years in their millions.

Contents

Constraints

Although the criteria for the following list are intended to be expansive (including comparisons for total-sales for all recording artists) there are certain limitations and constraints that may limit the conclusions that can be derived from these data. There is no certainty these figures are correct for not all sales are controllable.

Such constraints include:

400 million or more records

ArtistBiggest selling albumPeriodGenreClaimed sales
The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band 1960–1970Pop / Rock600 million [2]
500 million [3]

300 million to 400 million records

ArtistBiggest selling albumPeriodGenreClaimed sales
Elton John Goodbye Yellow Brick Road 1964–presentPop / Rock300 million [4]
Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin IV [5] 1968–1980Hard rock / Heavy metal200-300 million [6] [7]

200 million to 299 million records

ArtistBiggest selling albumPeriodGenreClaimed sales
Cliff Richard Always Guaranteed 1958–presentPop / Rock / Rock N Roll / Jazz260 million [8]
Bee Gees Saturday Night Fever 1958-2003Pop / Disco / Soul / Rock / Soft Rock220 million [9]
David Bowie Let's Dance 1964–2016Rock200 million [10]
Queen Greatest Hits [11] 1970–presentGlam rock / Hard rock170-200 million [12] [13] [14]
Pink Floyd The Dark Side of the Moon [15] 1964–2014Progressive rock200 million [16] [17]
The Rolling Stones Hot Rocks 1964–1971 1962–presentRock / Blues rock200 million [18]

100 million to 199 million records

ArtistBiggest selling albumPeriodGenreClaimed sales
Ed Sheeran × 2011–presentPop150 million [19]
Genesis Invisible Touch 1967–presentProgressive rock / Pop rock150 million [20]
Phil Collins No Jacket Required 1980–presentAdult contemporary150 million [21]
Shirley Bassey The Shirley Bassey Singles Album1957–presentPop135 million [22]
Status Quo 12 Gold Bars 1967–presentRock130 million [23]
Adele 21 2006–presentPop / Soul120 million [24]
Dire Straits Brothers in Arms 1977–1995Rock / Pop103 million [25]
Coldplay A Rush of Blood to the Head 1997–presentAlternative rock100 million [26]
The Dave Clark Five –1964–1970Pop rock / Beat100 million [27] [28]
Deep Purple Machine Head 1968–presentHard rock100 million [29] [30]
Depeche Mode Violator 1980–presentElectro Rock100 million [31] [32]
Fleetwood Mac Rumours 1967–presentPop rock100 million [33]
George Michael Faith 1981–2016Pop100 million [34]
Iron Maiden The Number of the Beast 1975–presentHeavy metal100 million [35] [36]
Paul McCartney Pipes of Peace 1957–presentPop rock100 million [37]
Pet Shop Boys Actually 1981–presentSynthpop100 million [38]
The Who Who's Next 1964–presentRock / Hard rock100 million [39]
Rod Stewart Out of Order 1962–presentRock / Pop100 million [40]

50 to 99 million records

ArtistBiggest selling albumPeriodGenreClaimed sales
Spice Girls Spice 1996–2000
2007–2008		Pop, Euro Pop90 million [41]
Eurythmics Greatest Hits 1980–presentNew wave75 million [42]
Robbie Williams I've Been Expecting You 1990–presentPop75 million [43]
Oasis (What's the Story) Morning Glory? 1991–2009Britpop / Rock75 million [44]
The Police Synchronicity 1977–presentPop rock / New Wave75 million [45]
Little Mix Glory Days 2011–2022Pop, R&B, dance-pop75 million [46]
Duran Duran Rio 1978–presentNew wave / alternative rock70 million [47]
UB40 Promises and Lies 1980–presentReggae100 million [48]
Def Leppard Hysteria 1977–presentHard rock / heavy metal65 million [49]
Supertramp Breakfast in America [50] 1969–presentProgressive rock60 million [51] [52]
Jethro Tull Aqualung 1968–presentProgressive rock / hard rock60 million [53]
T. Rex The Slider [54] 1967–1977Glam rock / Folk rock58 million [55]
Black Sabbath Paranoid 1968–presentHeavy metal50 million [56]
Culture Club Colour by Numbers 1982–presentNew wave-pop50 million

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amy Winehouse</span> English singer and songwriter (1983–2011)

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<i>Rockferry</i> 2008 studio album by Duffy

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Florence and the Machine</span> English indie rock band

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Record sales</span> Economic activity related to selling records through record shops or online music stores

Record sales or music sales are activities related to selling music recordings through physical record shops or digital music stores. Record sales reached their peak in 1999, when 600 million people spent an average of $64 on records, achieving $40 billion in sales of recorded music. Sales continued declining in the 21st century. The collapse of record sales also made artists rely on touring for most of their income. By 2019, record sales accounted for less than half of global recorded music revenue, overtaken by streaming. Following the inclusion of streaming into record charts in the mid-2010s, record sales are also referred to as traditional sales or pure sales.

References

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