According to Guinness World Records, Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" (1942) as performed by Bing Crosby is the best-selling single worldwide, with estimated sales of over 50 million copies.
The Beatles have the most No. 1 hits of all time: 20.
In 1893, the Hill sisters needed a song for their kindergarten class to sing on birthdays. Fast forward 120 years and "Happy Birthday" is by far the richest and most profitable song of all time. The Ownership of "Happy Birthday" has changed hands a few times in the last 100 years.
"Old Town Road" holds the record for the longest stretch at No. 1 with 19 weeks. It also became the fastest song in history to be certified diamond.
Michael Jackson's Thriller, estimated to have sold 70 million copies worldwide, is the best-selling album ever. Jackson also currently has the highest number of albums on the list with five, Celine Dion has four, while the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Madonna and Whitney Houston each have three.
It is estimated that more than one billion Elvis records have been sold worldwide, more than anyone in record industry history.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, British rock band The Beatles are top of the list for best-selling artists worldwide, with 183 million units certified sales. Second is Garth Brooks with over 157 million units sales, followed by Elvis Presley with 139 million units.
Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee's “Despacito” reigns as the most-viewed music video on YouTube, crossing 8 billion views just five years after its release.
Talk about a dream come true. For 23 years, no artist had matched Michael Jackson's record of five No. 1s from a single album (Bad).
As of July 2023, a total of 454 songs have surpassed one billion streams on Spotify, 38 have surpassed two billion, and just 2 have surpassed three billion in the platform's history.
Cher's career as a recording artist spans seven decades and she is the only artist to have a number-one single on a Billboard chart in each of the past six decades.
Michael Jackson
As the King of Pop, it makes sense to begin the list with Michael Jackson. The legendary singer achieved fame at a young age through his musical family and their group the Jackson 5. This led him to regular studio work and performances across the Midwest, notably through Motown Records.
Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney and Phil Collins are the only musicians to have sold over 100 million albums as a solo artist and member of a group.
Abel Tesfaye, more commonly known as The Weeknd, is statistically the most popular musician on the planet, and no one else even comes close. The 33-year-old Canadian singer's success has seen him set two new Guinness World Records titles: Most monthly listeners on Spotify – 111.4 million (as of 20 March 2023)
According to Billboard, The Weeknd's “Blinding Lights” holds the title for the most famous song for the period 1960-2021. If you're interested in songs that appeared on "all-time top" lists compiled by well-known music publications, check this study from 2015 that resulted in 50 iconic songs of all time.
Various compilation albums became amongst the best-selling albums worldwide with sales of over 20 million copies. For example, Eagles' Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) is the best-selling album in the United States, according to Billboard, selling over 38 million copies.
The number one spot on that list was taken by Ed Sheeran with his song 'Shape of You', which spent 14 weeks at the summit in 2017. He took up another three songs in the top ten.
Paul McCartney (32) and John Lennon (26), of The Beatles, rank first and second, respectively, for having written the most Hot 100 No. 1s, thanks to their respective group and solo outputs.
Most recorded artist in music history - Asha Bhosle
In 1974, the Guinness Book of Records had older sister Mangeshkar (now 87) down as recording the most songs in history - a staggering 25,000.
Taylor Swift has once again made music history by claiming every single top 10 spot on Billboard's Hot 100 chart at once. No other artist has ever held all 10 spots at the same time, according to Billboard.
Spotify generally pays between US$.003 (NZ$0.0049) and US$.005 per stream, according to Business Insider. That means it can take more than 300 streams to earn just US$1, while 1 billion streams can equal between US$3 million and US$5 million in royalties.