Well this is fun. Digital Music News has compiled a list of the top selling musicians of all time in the United States. No surprise: The Beatles are #1 with a staggering 178 million records sold with Garth Brooks, Elvis Presley, Led Zeppelin and The Eagles rounding out the top five. But where's the metal? Surprisingly, a lot of metal, and metal-adjacent acts made the cut as well.
#11: AC/DC (72 million)
#13: The Rolling Stones (66.5 million)
#14: Aerosmith (66.5 million)
#18: Metallica (62 million)
#20: Van Halen (56.5 million)
#30: Guns N’ Roses (44.5 million)
#46: Def Leppard (35 million)
#48: Bon Jovi (34.5 million)
#62: Ozzy Osbourne (28.75 million)
#79: ZZ Top (25 million)
#81: Rush (25 million)
#82: Nirvana (25 million)
#83: Motley Crue (25 million)
#112 Kiss (21 million)
#119 Linkin Park (20 million)
#147 Korn (16.5 million)
#150 Limp Bizkit (16.5 million)
#168 Black Sabbath (15 million)
#188 YES (13.5 million)
#202 Whitesnake (12.5 million)
#207 Alice In Chains (12.5 million)
#243 Nine Inch Nails (10.5)
I was a little confused how Limp Bizkit could be three spots below Korn even though they sold the same amount until I realized these are likely rounded numbers, and the full number count shows the entire story.
Either way, we live in a world where Limp Bizkit has outsold Black Sabbath. Also surprising, Metallica have nearly double the sales of Ozzy Osbourne. Remember when they opened for Ozzy on their first national tour? Times, they have changed.
