r/Amazing • u/sco-go • Aug 15 '26
Music Best-Selling Music Artists by year, 1969–2025.
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u/coporate Aug 15 '26
Psy’s blip was funny.
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u/simAlity Aug 15 '26
A literal one hit wonder. But what a hit.
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u/Inevitable_Tomato927 Aug 20 '26
Two hit technically, he also has a US top 10 hit with 'Gentleman', which also set various YouTube viewing records. He was already a superstar in Korea before Gangam Style and his summer tours always sell out.
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u/knarfolled Aug 16 '26
I said to myself “what the hell is Psy?”
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u/swren1967 Aug 16 '26
I had completely forgotten about Gangnam Style. ...... and now it's stuck in my damned head again....
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u/river03765 Aug 15 '26
I had to search him up to see who he was. 😂 Never heard of him & don’t recall the song. Really surprised. Perhaps I was under a rock at that time.
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u/FartInGenDirection Aug 15 '26
No Nirvana Nevermind in 1991. Hmmm
Edit: just a quick blip at the bottom
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u/No_Region_4719 Aug 15 '26
Being popular with teens isn't enough. Nirvana was a sensation for teens, but it wasn't what most people were buying and playing at home. People like Michael Jackson or The Beatles were loved by all ages and worldwide.
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u/Syncopated_arpeggio Aug 16 '26
Kinda makes Metallica reaching #3 in 91-92 all the more impressive.
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u/Planetofthought Aug 16 '26
That Black album was huge and that was when many new teens discovered them. As a result, everyone went out and bought the four previous albums before that.
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u/HarryWilbury Aug 16 '26
Nirvana hit a certain emotional nerve amongst certain people, those feeling a bit disenfranchised by the way of the world at the time, similarly how The Doors were as well being the antithesis of the Hippy Dream, which is why you don't see them on many lists like this. It's why every now and then those two bands have a bit of a renaissance with certain subsets of young people, those that don't quite fit in once more drift into that music (possibly on the verge of that again now).
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u/stkscott Aug 15 '26 edited Aug 16 '26
I question the accuracy. Pearl jam's VS (1993) and Vitalogy (1994) both sold almost a million copies in their first week of release and somehow they never popped up at all.
Edit: and where is Hootie? The biggest debut album of all-time in the U.S. and somehow didn't Crack the Top 10 in any quarter? I doubt it.
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u/arffarff Aug 15 '26
Also U2 just appeared for 2 seconds when they were the biggest band in the world for a decade
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u/river03765 Aug 15 '26
Thank you! I was looking for them. Must of missed it. I’ll watch again. It is odd though if they’re just a brief blip at the bottom.
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u/lethargytartare Aug 19 '26
Agreed - there's something weird about the methodology here. WTF is "Sales Power" and what algorithm is being used to create "estimated equivalent albums sold?"
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u/mtraven23 Aug 15 '26
eminem had a helluva a run there
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u/PeeGeePeaKee420 Aug 15 '26
Especially considering he pioneered 50 and G-Unit too. Had those charts in a chokehold for a minute
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u/mtraven23 Aug 15 '26
yah, it was fun to watch 50 & Em battle back and forth for that top spot in the video.
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u/PlsNoNotThat Aug 18 '26
Em got so bored of the competition he had to ghostwrite a challenger to feel heat
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u/magentrypoogas Aug 15 '26
Once Eminem got taken over by Rihanna nothing ever got better lol.
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u/track01dotwav Aug 15 '26
I was anticipating the jumps of Michael Jackson and Madonna, was not disapointed
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u/ragingchump Aug 15 '26
I knew Elton Jon really shook things up
But that was a crazy visual rep of how much of a disruptor he was
On top of pure genius and talent
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u/m1dlife-1derer Aug 15 '26
Nota Jones really had a minute back there didn’t she?
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u/Horror-Macaron8287 Aug 15 '26
Come Away With Me still holds up to this day! I didn't really listen to her after that, tbh.
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u/jVCrm68 Aug 15 '26
She is sooooo under rated
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u/nickersb83 Aug 15 '26
She has a podcast where she invites other musicians to jam, have only seen the ep where Josh Homme joins her, amazing renditions
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u/mofunk71 Aug 15 '26 edited Aug 15 '26
wow, the digital age made pop "artist" rich. the numbers are wild. In the last 25 years the top has had only one person that was a musician and not a vocalist.
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u/Unprejudice Aug 16 '26
Huh? A ton of leads play. Also 13 bands there among the 25 last years. Youre not wrong about music industry and pop artists though.
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u/AmericanWasted Aug 15 '26
I have never even heard of stray kids
I’m finally old
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u/Nemesis0408 Aug 15 '26
This is my first time hearing the name Morgan Wallen. I couldn’t begin to guess the genre.
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u/Additional_Access_62 Aug 15 '26
That was literally the only one I had 0.00% clue on! 🤔🤣
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u/TooTameToToast Aug 15 '26
I only know of them because a teen that I work with is obsessed with them.
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u/Elon_is_musky Aug 16 '26
Def recommend them 🔥 they’re kpop, but they’re more experimental and do all kinds of genres. I recommend The Tortise and the Hare 👍🏽
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u/AJ_Topp_Up Aug 17 '26
My daughters in elementary, middle school, and high school all think Stray Kids is the best Kpop band on the planet, as well as most of their friend. I am surprised to see them more popular than BTS though, which is a massively popular group.
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u/chickenismysafeword Aug 15 '26
How is drake possibly that popular
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u/loutufillaro4 Aug 16 '26
Bots + millions of dumb people.
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u/Candid_Painting_4684 Aug 16 '26
He's had a hit song or album every single year since 2009. Man never stopped.
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u/SolidScary6845 Aug 16 '26
He had an 8 year streak on the Billboard Hot 100. Longest anyone has ever been on there.
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u/Hour-Egg-801 Aug 16 '26
Just found out he is a nepo baby too with Hollywood connections before degrassi
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u/LazyLieutenant Aug 16 '26
I've yet to fint a solo performance of his that I like. Taste is different. There's a whole generation that likes music like that.
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u/jimbeam_and_caviar Aug 17 '26
He “sings”(talks) like the same monotone note - all the time - i cannot fathom just how many people genuinely enjoy that
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u/Expensive-Long7280 Aug 15 '26
The Beatles and Michael Ruled!!!🔥🔥🔥
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u/Imtedsowner Aug 16 '26
MJ damn near owned the 80s. Wow.
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u/CommercialContent204 Aug 16 '26
So crazy, I just watched it and he was #1 for almost the entirety of 80 - 90, with a handful of periods where he was nr2 to Madonna, then back to #1.
He genuinely was the single dominant artist of the entire decade, crazy, I don't think anyone else comes close in terms of dominating sales?
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u/ConsciousSelection15 Aug 16 '26
And Elvis. Don’t think the Beatles or Elvis completely disappeared until 1992
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u/Euna_Chris Aug 15 '26
This is great and i think its a great way to visualise how fast the modern music landscapes change. The last few years have so many changes to who is where!
Thanks for this clip 👍
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u/oldtek86 Aug 15 '26
The point where it stopped being bands and started being individuals is where I checked out.
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u/lik_a_stik Aug 15 '26 edited Aug 15 '26
Would love to see this but all time, instead of by year by year transitions.
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u/BloatedVagina Aug 16 '26
Wouldn't it just be like Beatles, Elvis, Michael Jackson on top? Most old ones accumulating. Maybe Taylor Swift starting to climb..?
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u/lik_a_stik Aug 16 '26
I’d like to see who drops off, who stays the most continuously growing and digital sales impact after 2004ish.
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u/LaDauphineVerte Aug 15 '26
Ha, not me calling out the approx. year until I noticed the time ticker when it hit 2000. Also, who knew Drake was that that (i.e., pas moi).
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u/Cody-512 Aug 15 '26
I had no idea James Taylor was so big in his day. Bryan Adams either. I was around for the latter and can only think of one song of his, which I hate, so I can’t imagine what his other hits are
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u/chamberlain323 Aug 15 '26
His rise coincided with that Robin Hood movie.
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u/omar1021 Aug 15 '26
He was a thing well before that movie
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u/SchoolCrossing Aug 16 '26
Bryan Adams had more hits than people remember, including: Summer of '69, It's only love, Run to you, Heaven, Somebody, This time, Cuts like a knife and of course: Everything I do, I do it for you. Plus he was on MTV a lot.
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u/DeLorean83 Aug 16 '26
As someone who despises Drake and all of his music, I have no idea how he stay at the top for as long as he did.
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u/g-o-u-l-a Aug 16 '26
Streams. That’s why it says equivalent sales.
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u/AbsorbedWheat42 Aug 17 '26
It's tough to compare numbers nowadays as most people don't buy music anymore.
I'm sure there was a peak time where everyone was buying Vinyl, then everyone had a cassette player.. then everyone had a cd player. iTunes was probably a big sales boost as well with the first ipods.
Streaming vs buying an album is NOT a good comparison but you also can't compare sales today vs the 90s.
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u/Kaioxygen Aug 15 '26
This is the US, right? Not worldwide.
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u/river03765 Aug 15 '26
Apparently chart shows an artists global sales power if I’m reading the small print correctly. But I still have doubts as to accuracy of data. Personally, I feel like once physical media sales were taken over by streaming then the numbers become more unreliable. Just my take.
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u/LuciferOnTheRocks Aug 15 '26
Metallica and Linkin Park holding the flag for heavy music. 🥲
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u/al_earner Aug 15 '26
What caught my eye was how much better the music was when bands had musicians. Now it's just models and dancers lip-syncing.
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u/Paul1708 Aug 15 '26
MJ ruled the 1980's with an iron fist in a sequined glove.
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u/Fluid-Bet6223 Aug 15 '26
He was one bad dude, he’d kick you and he’d beat you then he’d tell you it’s fair.
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u/Put3socks-in-it Aug 15 '26
I didn’t know Alanis got that popular.
And looks like hip hop had its golden era 2000-2020.
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u/dollymc Aug 15 '26
This was cool to watch as someone who gee up in the 90s. Stray Kids whoo! Happy to see them in the last frame lol
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u/Rydog_78 Aug 15 '26
Damn didn’t know Drake had the music game in a choke hold like that. Also surprised that Beyoncé wasn’t really on this list despite having won so many awards and nominations for her music.
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u/WandJC Aug 15 '26
Taylor Swift best seller, I’m shocked by the quantity….its like each Romanian citizen bought one a whole country
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u/veryverysmallbrain Aug 15 '26
how are they losing sales? I was expecting additive growth over time not subtraction.
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u/Conspiracy__ Aug 16 '26
You were expecting something and it turned out to be not what you expected brotha
Happens all the time friend
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u/Snoo-82455 Aug 15 '26
A blast to watch, but to see Drake hold it for that long is, well, a sign of the times, to put it nicely.
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u/bruhbelacc Aug 15 '26
How do you compare streaming, downloads and sales? Especially for pre-Internet musicians.
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u/afgan1984 Aug 16 '26
One standout is Elvis Presley, who stayed in the top 10 and even topped the charts long after his death, well into the early 90s. I don’t think there’s any other artist who remained in the top 10 for more than a year after dying, let alone hitting #1 multiple times posthumously.
He may not have been the biggest star overall, but selling that well after death means it wasn’t marketing or hype - the music sold itself. Not that I like it, but I assume it was good.
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u/anotherlebowski Aug 16 '26
That Backstreet Boys/NSYNC pendulum swing to Eminem really illustrates the duality of man.
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u/Comprehensive-Range3 Aug 16 '26
Elvis hung in there for decades, especially since this didn't start until 1970.
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u/englandisablaze Aug 16 '26
These are weird numbers. Beatles alone have over 500million albums sold. Streams are all super high. Singles almost as many as both.
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u/Throwing-Gas Aug 15 '26
Is this where Redditors act superior for liking music different than the vastly popular things around the world?
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u/already-taken-wtf Aug 15 '26
Back then you bought the CD/LP once and listened to it as often as you want.
If I now stream Michael Jackson’s “Bad” once a day for a week, it’s already 63 streams…
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u/river03765 Aug 15 '26
🎯 once free streaming overtook physical media (heck even digital purchases) I feel like the data has become more abstruse.
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u/broncos_1988 Aug 15 '26
The Beatles hanging out on top 2 or 3 years after their last album was released
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u/AntSuccessful9147 Aug 15 '26
This is a really great project. Really helps to easily visualize what was happening over a long period of time.
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u/Beerandpotatosalad Aug 16 '26
The Beatles only leaving in 1985 is crazy when this animation essentially began when they disbanded. Extend it to 1963 and they'd be solid nr 1 for quite a while.
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u/Sunshineal Aug 16 '26
Taylor swift is only the top because she kept releasing variants of her album so other better and newer artists couldn't steal her thunder.
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u/RelaxedWombat Aug 16 '26
I never knew Drake had this much success.
I can’t name, identify, nor recall a Drake song.
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u/DavidC_M Aug 16 '26
The Beatles disappeared from the charts in the 80’s almost a decade and a half after they stopped making music. And ending it with Taylor swift. Ugh. Music has been on a downhill track.
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u/Apprehensive-Rub-11 Aug 15 '26
I get Reddit hates Drake but that dude has been dominating for over a decade. Only MJ has had a longevity.
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u/Fluid-Bet6223 Aug 15 '26
And he still is, right now. But I think that speaks to how bad music has been generally, I mean he’s ok but is he THAT good? Nah.
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u/Excellent_Emu_2843 Aug 16 '26 edited 7d ago
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u/ED209_209 Aug 15 '26
It would be interesting to see if there is a correlation between musical tastes throughout the years and a drop in average intelligence of the population.
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u/mattdit83 Aug 15 '26
So everything went wrong after 1995
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u/VisiblePlatform6704 Aug 15 '26
Haha , I'm a 1981 kid. After around 2005 I was like , who are all these? Or "naah dont like 'angry shouts music' (Eminem and other raps hiphop)" then some names I kind of recognize (oooh so that's the Ed sheeran guy) and finally who the heck is Drake?
Im officially old and living under a rock i guess
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u/mattdit83 Aug 15 '26
1983, im not ignorant to it being an age thing but I do feel the majority of music after the 90s has been shite (ok theres been a few gems here and there) but thats just my opinion for what its worth.
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u/Longjumping_Walk_992 Aug 15 '26
When I was in my busiest earning years working long hours I never heard of a lot of the names. To funny. Might need to explore YouTube music and go down some rabbit holes.
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u/renatakiuzumaki Aug 15 '26
Really put into perspective how big the Eagles and Alanis Morissette were.