The 10 best-selling artists of each decade from 1960s to now
The Oxford English Dictionary defines the notion of the ‘cultural zeitgeist’ as follows: “The defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time. Recorded from the mid-19th century, the word is German, and comes from Zeit ‘time’ + Geist ‘spirit’.” When we look back at decades retrospectively, this becomes clear: the first adjective to come to mind when you hear the ‘1960s‘ is swinging, and the image you picture is Woodstock rather than the moments that would be given the most column inches in a history textbook.
This shows that although culture might seem nebulous at times, it is, in many ways, a defining fixture of ever-evolving society. William S. Burroughs once wrote: “Artists to my mind are the real architects of change, and not the political legislators who implement change after the fact.” Tragically, that might be a load of rubbish legislatively; it would seem, however, that the soft force of ‘sentiment’ is open to change, and culture has the greatest impact on that.
Alas, it is also clear that the opposite is true and societal developments impact culture, too. For instance, without the invention of the microphone, which allowed singers to effectively whisper with nuance over the sound of a full band, then classical music, jazz and humble folk would still be the only prevalent triumvirate of musical forces. Likewise, the zeitgeist now is so hard to fathom because the internet has dispersed culture into microcosms.
In the 1960s, even the most avant-garde hipsters would still have mainstream favourites by virtue of the fact that they would’ve been alone in a lonely and barely accessible rabbit hole if they didn’t. Now, that still might largely be the case, but at least we’re lonely in a barely accessible rabbit hole from the comfort of our own homes with Safari-Flap-Fedora-123 for company.
Aside from the quality of the music and innovation, this helps to explain just why The Beatles proved so wildly popular, too. The age of ‘pop’ culture had just dawned, and the art of the people brought the masses together. The youth were galvanised behind the Fab Four, as had been heralded by Elvis Presley before them, and with record pressing fully in swing, all the kids were snapping up copies to be part of the discussion. Thus, pop music is inextricably tied to commercialism, too.
The defining force of the age has changed continually over the years. In fact, even whether there is a defining force has been a notion in transition. So, ChartMasters ran the numbers when it came to commercialism and used their CSPC method to conglomerate various sales and streaming mediums over time to look at the data behind pop. The results on a decade-by-decade basis can be seen below.
The 10 best-selling artists of each decade:
1960s
1. The Beatles – 376million
2. Elvis Presley – 131million
3. The Rolling Stones – 110million
4. Simon & Garfunkel – 89million
5. Bob Dylan – 72million
6. The Doors – 72million
7. Led Zeppelin – 57million
8. Creedence Clearwater Revival – 52million
9. Barbra Streisand – 31million
10. Johnny Hallyday – 29million
1970s
1. Pink Floyd – 171million
2. Eagles – 163million
3. Led Zeppelin – 138million
4. Queen – 129million
5. Elton John – 129million
6. Abba – 125million
7. Rod Stewart & the Faces – 108million
8. Bob Marley – 107million
9. Bee Gees – 104million
10. Fleetwood Mac – 95million
1980s
1. Michael Jackson – 181million
2. Madonna – 131million
3. Phil Collins – 119million
4. U2 – 111million
5. Queen – 107million
6. Prince – 93million
7. AC/DC – 84million
8. Bruce Springsteen – 82million
9. Bon Jovi – 79million
10. George Michael & Wham! – 69million
1990s
1. Céline Dion – 160million
2. Mariah Carey – 144million
3. Garth Brooks – 108million
4. Whitney Houston – 88million
5. Nirvana – 80million
6. Michael Jackson – 78million
7. Metallica – 75million
8. Backstreet Boys – 74million
9. Madonna – 66million
10. Shania Twain – 65million
2000s
1. Eminem – 123million
2. Linkin Park – 67million
3. Coldplay – 66million
4. Britney Spears – 62million
5. Beyoncé – 50million
6. P!nk – 48million
7. Norah Jones – 48million
8. Robbie Williams – 47million
9. Nickelback – 46million
10. Black Eyed Peas – 45million
2010s
1. Adele – 73million
2. Justin Bieber – 66million
3. Taylor Swift – 64million
4. Ed Sheeran – 61million
5. Rihanna – 55million
6. BTS – 55million
7. Bruno Mars – 52million
8. Drake – 52million
9. One Direction – 44million
10. Eminem – 38million
