biggest selling artist 21st century

[andyuk]

would someone please give a top 10 of the biggest selling artist of this century? all albums sold from jan 2000 onwards worldwide. u2 must be near the top with 2 studio albums and a best of released plus a strong back catalog.

 

[edge3]

That's a pretty big question...

If you're talking about last nights Channel 4 list then, as i predicted yesterday, our boys came in at # 18 with total UK album sales of 2.3 million - that's 1.11 million for ATYCLB + 1.19 million for HTDAAB. But if their back catalogue sales & sales of both Best Of's (& UABRS) had been included then U2 would have been about 8th with around 4.4 million.

As for worldwide sales...i think U2 would get in the top 10 though i'd have to do some serious research on other artists. Here's what i think for U2 though :

12 m for ATYCLB + 6 m for Best Of 90-00 + 9 m for HTDAAB + 15 m for Back Catalogue = 42 million

Eminem, The Beatles, Norah Jones must be up there too.

 

[ybird3k]

by the end of the decade, with 2more studio albums, another best of & back catalogue sales, U2's worldwide total could be close to 200 million!

 

[achtung y'all]

The top ten biggest sellers in the UK since 2000:

1. Robbie Williams
2. Coldplay
3. Dido
4. Eminem
5. Westlife
6. Norah Jones
7. Blue
8. Anastacia
9. Stereophonics
10. Oasis

 

[edge3]

Well, since you've posted the top 10 i may as well post the full top 50 with sales...not that, IMO, it means as much as it should as these figures DO NOT include back catalogue sales (that's sales from all albums released in the 20th century), greatest hits, live albums or downloads...so just sales of Studio Albums released from Jan 1st 2000 to Oct 11th 2005 :

1 ROBBIE WILLIAMS 6.3 m(illion's)
2 COLDPLAY 6.2 m
3 DIDO 5.7 m
4 EMINEM 4.7 m
5 WESTLIFE 4.2 m
6 NORAH JONES 3.3 m
7 BLUE 3.3 m
8 ANASTACIA 3.1 m
9 STEREOPHONICS 2.8 m
10 OASIS 2.6 m
11 KYLIE MINOGUE 2.6 m
12 PINK 2.5 m
13 CRAIG DAVID 2.4 m
14 WILL YOUNG 2.4 m
15 SCISSOR SISTERS 2.3 m
16 KEANE 2.3 m
17 RONAN KEATING 2.3 m
18 U2 2.3 m (1.11 m for ATYCLB + 1.19 m for HTDAAB)
19 AVRIL LAVIGNE 2.2 m
20 S CLUB 2.2 m
21 BUSTED 2.2 m
22 RUSSELL WATSON 1.9 m
23 RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS 1.9 m
24 MADONNA 1.9 m
25 SUGABABES 1.9 m
26 KATIE MELUA 1.9 m
27 BRITNEY SPEARS 1.8 m
28 DANIEL BEDINGFIELD 1.8 m
29 LINKIN PARK 1.8 m
30 ATOMIC KITTEN 1.8 m
31 JOSS STONE 1.8 m
32 MAROON 5 1.8 m
33 CHRISTINA AGUILERA 1.8 m
34 JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE 1.8 m
35 GREEN DAY 1.8 m
36 BLACK EYED PEAS 1.7 m
37 ENRIQUE IGLESIAS 1.7 m
38 ROD STEWART 1.7 m
39 DESTINY'S CHILD 1.6 m
40 50 CENT 1.5 m
41 ALICIA KEYS 1.5 m
42 DANIEL O'DONNELL 1.5 m
43 STREETS 1.5 m
44 NELLY 1.5 m
45 TRAVIS 1.5 m
46 WHITE STRIPES 1.4 m
47 DARKNESS 1.4 m
48 JOOLS HOLLAND 1.4 m
49 NICKELBACK 1.3 m
50 IL DIVO 1.3 m