The past 25 years have witnessed the all-time grossing sales record smashed and re-set while some new musical artists that rose to stardom less than a decade ago have already achieved historical heights, setting themselves in the upper echelons of musical greats.
From the new age trap to the old school rap down to the pop and rock empire, new musical innovations have etched with the old accustomed sounds to give fans a wide range of musical excitements.
This article will reveal the most highly sought-after sounds of the past 25 years that have in turn made the performers the bestselling artists of the past two decades:
1: Drake
Since recording his first mixtape, ‘Room For Improvement’ in 2006, Drake has cemented his place as one of the distinguished names in hip-hop. The 37-year-old has topped the Billboard 200 on 13 occasions, making him the third-most after The Beatles(19) and Jay Z(14).
Drake also holds the record for the most number of hits, becoming the first artist to reach 300 total chart hits. The Canadian native has achieved nine No.1 debuts on the Billboard Hot 100.
The five-time Grammy award winner is reported to have sold $528.4 million certified units among 17 countries across different continents including including the United States, Brazil, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Poland, Mexico etc. Drake has also accumulated a massive $170 million in claimed sales– putting him among the bestsellers since 2009 till now.
2: Elton John
Elton John is one of the most successful artists in the music industry with a career spanning over 20 years.
The 77-year-old has recorded over 3000 songs while 130 of his songs have appeared in the Top 40 hit songs in the UK and US.
With a career that spans over 50 years, Elton John’s popularity has seen him gross astronomical figures including the $817.9m record for the highest-grossing-music Tour which has since been broken by Taylor Swift.
The rock artists have accumulated a total of $214.3 million in sales of the total certified units while amassing over 300 million in sales.
3: Adele
Adele is one of the biggest artists in the world over the past two decades. Her album “25″ was the fourth best-selling album of the century while “21″ climbed to number 1 in Billboard Top 200 Albums of all Time. She sold a whopping 692,000 copies in digital and physical metrics off her album “30″. The album outsold all the top 50 best-selling albums on Billboard’s list to become the best-selling album of 2021.
The 16-time Grammy Award winner has sold over 140 million certified units of her songs which have achieved record sales across different countries like Japan, the United States, the Netherlands, Canada, Brazil, New Zealand, Portugal etc. The 36-year-old has also amassed an astronomical $120 million in her overall claimed sales.
4: Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson has an amazing catalogue of bestselling songs from “Bad” which sold 11 million units, to “Number Ones” which sold 13 million units. Jackson recorded a significant milestone with “Thriller” which amassed a milestone of 34 million units in sales.
Back in 2011, the 13-time Grammy winner topped Forbes’ yearly list of “Top-Earning Dead Celebrities’ twice in a row after his songs sold a record-setting $170 million.
Fast forward to 2024, Jackson still has a strong foot among the best-selling artists of the century having recorded over $400 million from a total of 289.5 million from sales of certified units.
5: Eminem
In a list that is dominated by pop, hip-hop and rock stars, Eminem is the only rapper among the first 40 biggest-selling artists of all time and is firmly placed above 2Pac and Kanye West in grossing numbers. More interesting is that the American rapper is closely among the first ten biggest-selling artists of all time with over 336.45 million recorded from total certified units. Eminem also holds the record of six hip-hop diamond certifications– the most by any artist.
6: Ed Sheeran
The West Yorkshire native has sold over 26 million albums and 100 million singles globally, placing him among the best-selling artists since coming into the limelight in 2011.
Ed Sheeran became the global best-selling artist in 2017 after the release of “Shape of You” which earned him the IFPI Global Recording Artist of the Year. The “Perfect” singer has since been certified as multi-platinum in 36 different markets.
The 33-year-old has accumulated over 273 million total certified units and over $150 million in claimed sales.
7: Rihanna
“Bad Girl Riri” has reigned in supreme when it comes to sales domination over the past two decades. From making global hits such as “Umbrella” down to widely acclaimed “Work” where she collaborated with her complicated lover, Drake.
Rihanna has achieved 14 number-one songs and 32 top-ten songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and the mother of two was recognized as the top-selling female digital singles artist by the Recording Industry Association of America(RIAA).
The 12-time Billboard Music Award winner has amassed 372 million in certified unit sales and grossed over 250 million in claimed sales.
8: BTS
The seven-man musical group consisting of RM, Jin, J-Hope,V, Suga, Jimin, and Jungkook have set the world alight since their emergence less than a decade ago. They have grown to become one of the most influential artists in the world, with an astronomical number of music sales.
They have recorded monumental success over the past years including 40 million physical album sales. They have also scored a mountainous 820,000 sales and 102,000 copies in 2023 and 2024 respectively.
BTS are ranked third behind Taylor Swift and Eminem among global artists with the most number of album sales over the past 30 years with the South Korean group recording over 100 million album sales.
9: Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift has cemented her place as the biggest-selling artist of the century with her recently released album, ‘The Tortured Poets Department” breaking stream records never seen before in history– becoming the most-streamed album in a day with over 309 million streams daily on Spotify.
Swift is also renowned for electrifying performances on Tours with her “Reputation” Tour setting the record of the highest-grossing tour in history in 2017 with $266.1 million from over two million tickets sold.
Fast forward to 2024, she has broken Elton John’s $939 million “Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour” to set the new highest-grossing record in history with over $1bn and Pollstar industry analysts predict she could become the first artist in history to hit the $2 billion mark– making her the most successful artist this century and beyond.
10: Coldplay
Coldplay have become the pacesetter of Rock in recent years. They have gathered wide acclaim globally settling records in streams and tours. Their highly anticipated “Music of the Spheres’ Tour saw them join the Rolling Stones in the Billboard Boxscore history to become the second-ever artist to record over a half billion double-up among the first 10 of highest-grossing tours.
They have also recorded stellar achievements in previous Tours such as the “A Head Full of Dreams” tour held in 2016 which became the third highest-grossing global tour of all time after making a record ticket sales of $523,033,675.
Their current “Music of the Spheres’ tour topped Pollstar’s Worldwide Top 100 chart in the first quarter of the year with Coldplay tickets racking up $100.5 million in sales from thirteen concerts.
The tour which began in 2022 has seen Coldplay emerge as the highest-grossing musical group in history and with a current record of over $810.9m, the seven-time Grammy Award winners are on course to join Taylor Swift in reaching the coveted $1 billion mark.
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