by Beth Benson

Created on: July 03, 2008

Rock, country, heavy metal, oldies, blue-grass, whatever the music genre is, there is only one artist that will go down in history as being the highest selling recording artist ever. This is such a controversial topic because you have the rock and metal crowd screaming Iron Maiden, Pink Floyd, or Led Zepplin. Then of course you have the country crowd yelling Dolly Parton or Johnny Cash.

So what is the truth? Which artist is the highest selling recording artist ever? Sadly, it's all based on statistics in sales and not popularity. Just because the records were bought, doesn't always mean that the person favors the artist. Anyone ever get a bunch of albums out there as gifts and wonder what in the world your Aunt, Grandma, or Mother were thinking? Yes, I have been one of those people too.

However, the highest selling recording artist ever, is United Kingdom's own The Beatles. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison; just four men from Liverpool, England who rocked the world with their unique genre mix of rock, pop, experimental and psychedelic songs to sell well over 500 million records to date in the United Kingdom and over a billion records worldwide as of the year 1985.

The Beatles, may have been one of the highest selling recording artist ever, but like most artists, they tend to have the battle with media exposure, drugs, alcohol, and of course unexpected deaths. The Beatles live on today, constantly remembered and passed down by generations upon generations. Albums will keep selling and "I Want to Hold Your Hand" will cross kid's minds at least once in their lifetime.

The second highest selling recording artist ever is jazz's own Bing Crosby. If your parents were born anywhere from the 30's to the 50's like mine were, then you have probably heard of Bing Crosby. If you haven't heard the name Bing Crosby, hopefully you have heard the song "White Christmas", yeah, he's the one normally singing that favorite Christmas Song written by Irving Berlin. Bing Crosby, at the age of 23, began is musical career as well as acting career. He partnered with the best of them such as Bob Hope.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" alone sold over 100 million copies around the world. The album "White Christmas" gave The Beatles a run for their money as it has gone four times platinum.

In third place, which personally when I saw that the highest selling recording artist ever question I thought this was going to be him, Elvis Presley. With rumors of Elvis still alive, and Elvis being kidnapped by aliens, and the many generations of people that live and breathe Elvis, he ranks in at third place.

From the big screen, to the record player, to the military, you name it, Elvis Presley has seem to have done it all. Elvis is one of only three artists in the history of music to rank high in the country music as well as rock and roll charts, as well as rank as being an influential figure in American history.

With well over a billion records sold worldwide, there is not one person on the face of this Earth that does not know the name Elvis Presley. Okay, let me rephrase that, just say Elvis and we automatically recognize "The King".

So there you have it. The top three highest selling recording artists ever. These amazing artists will be in our thoughts, are hearts and our stereos for many more years to come. With each generation, there will always be someone that will fall in love with the magic of one of these artists' voices and continue to carry the name down the line.

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