Gold/Platinum certifications issued after 2016, especially on singles, are in some cases more than 50% streaming generated. In other words, the available certified units for each artist should get relatively closer to already listed claimed figure in order for higher figures to replace the listed ones. The claimed figures are upgraded only when there is a significant progress in artists' certified units. This list uses claimed figures that are closest to artists' available certified units: inflated claimed figures that meet the required certified units amount but are unrealistically high, are not used. However, if all available sources for an artist or band say 'albums', such sources are only used if the certified album units of the said artist meet the required percentage amount. For clarity, the sources used, say the term 'records' (singles, albums, videos) and not 'albums'. The claimed figures are referenced from online articles created by highly reliable sources. The requirements of certified units are designed to avoid inflated sales figures, which are frequently practiced by record companies for promotional purposes. The certified units percentage varies according to the first year that an artist appeared in the charts. All certified units are converted from Gold/Platinum/Diamond certification awards based on criteria provided by certifying bodies. The certified units are sourced from available online databases of local music industry associations. So artists such as Rihanna, Chris Brown, Taylor Swift, Flo Rida, Katy Perry, Drake, Justin Bieber, Adele, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Nicki Minaj, Ed Sheeran, Imagine Dragons, Ariana Grande, The Weeknd and Post Malone are expected to have their claimed figures supported by over 75 percent in certified units. The more recent the artist, the higher the required percentage of certified units this is because more music markets instituted certification systems after the 1980s and 1990s. That is why Cliff Richard, Diana Ross, Scorpions, Bing Crosby, Deep Purple, Iron Maiden, Tom Jones, The Jackson 5, Dionne Warwick, the Spice Girls, Dolly Parton, Ozzy Osbourne, Frank Sinatra, Andrea Bocelli, Gloria Estefan and others have not been included on this list.

Elvis Presley is considered the highest-selling individual artist based on sales claims and Drake is the highest-selling individual artist based on certified units.ДЄll artists included on this list, which have begun charting on official albums or singles charts have their available claimed figures supported by at least 30 percent in certified units. Sales figures, such as those from Soundscan, which are sometimes published by Billboard magazine, have not been included in the certified units column.ДЄs of 2017, based on both sales claims and certified units, the Beatles are considered the highest-selling band. The claimed sales figure and the total of certified units (for each country) within the provided sources include sales of albums, singles, compilation-albums, music videos as well as downloads of singles and full-length albums. If two or more artists have the same claimed sales, they are then ranked by certified units. The tables are listed with both their claimed sales figure along with their total independently certified units and are ranked in descending order, with the artist with the highest amount of claimed sales at the top. Only artists whose claimed sales figures can be cross-referenced with music recording certification systems (the first of which appeared in the late 1950s) are included.

The following is an independently verified list of best-selling music artists (those with claims of 75 million or more record sales) from the second half of the 20th century to the present.

Top pop artists 2015