The only six female solo artists who have sold more than 150 million record units
There’s a lot of chatter in the music industry about what success looks like, even more so when the conversations steer towards female artists, and to make matters worse, even some of our biggest female role models, like Shania Twain, don’t always seem to understand the community they themselves helped build.
Twain recently said she doesn’t identify as a feminist. “I think I have a lot of feminist points of view because I am so defensive of the vulnerable woman,” she said, adding that she doesn’t see herself as a feminist because she instead sees herself “as a very independent thinker and not necessarily because I’m a woman”.
When you look at what she’s actually saying, it does make sense. However, it also makes sense why some people would feel disheartened to hear the words “I don’t see myself as a feminist” from someone like Twain, given that she not only put out timeless feminist anthems like ‘Man! I Feel Like A Woman!’ and ‘That Don’t Impress Me Much’, but is also one of the best-selling female artists in history.
Yet, perhaps, therein lies the real point. Whether or not Twain has an issue with the word itself, her impact and sales speak for themselves, with her success and message of female empowerment and confidence holding more weight than any misguided comment ever could. And it’s because of these trailblazing figures that other female singers succeed in the first place, taking that energy and reimagining it in different ways, for other generations of women to feel inspired by.
As Barbra Streisand told The Huffington Post in 2017, “Every woman’s success opens the door for another woman to succeed”. Streisand, who has been a fierce advocate for feminism and equality for decades, also explained that women should “take that collective female energy and put it out into the world because the world needs it now more than ever”.
She’s also the sixth-best-selling female artist in history, selling over 150 million record units since her breakthrough in the 1960s, and the only artist with a number-one album in six different decades, demonstrating how both her talent and her voice have carried not only immediate commercial success but also cross-disciplinary, long-lasting cultural impact.
Another massive star to set an entirely new standard is Whitney Houston, who sold over 160m records and delivered songs that championed female empowerment and complete independence, while also being the first female artist to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart with her second album, Whitney, doubly smashing barriers for Black women in music.
Also up there, Mariah Carey and Céline Dion have each sold close to 200m, while Madonna, still one of the biggest and most influential forces in music, has sold over 250m, and at number one, selling over 270 album units, Taylor Swift holds the crown, her biggest being 1989, her definitive pop foray that cemented her position as one of the ringleaders in the current commercial landscape.
And yet, while Swift’s position on feminism continues to be a point of contention, mainly because it often appears to be performative at best and her messages of togetherness often appear more juvenile than revolutionary, perhaps this is also one that speaks for itself when you look at the basic facts. And how, above everything else, Swift still somehow managed to crawl her way right to the top of the pecking order with songs that speak entirely from personal experience.
