Beatles Are Second Biggest Selling Artists of the Last 17 Years

Back on May 25, 1991, Nielsen SoundScan started compiling actual sales figures for recordings sold in the U.S. for reporting to the industry and trade publications. Prior to that time, sales figures were established through inaccurate means, but Nielsen was able to set up an electronic network in major retailers that gave them actual data on a daily basis.

For year-end 2008, SoundScan has issued a list of the top selling artists of the "SoundScan Era", from May 25, 1991 to December 28, 2008. The top selling artist in the U.S. is Garth Brooks with over 68 million units sold, but it's the Beatles that come in second with just over 57 million units. That's pretty amazing for a group whose recording career ended in twenty years before the SoundScan Era even began.

Other veteran artists making the top ten are Metallica (4), George Strait (6) and Pink Floyd (9).

Metallica is also on the verge of having the biggest selling album of the era, with their "Black Album" just a little over 150,000 units behind Shania Twain's Come On Over.

The top ten selling artists of the SoundScan era:

1. Garth Brooks - 68,143,000
2. Beatles - 57,088,000
3. Mariah Carey - 51,569,000
4. Metallica - 51,136,000
5. Celine Dion - 50,571,000
6. George Strait - 40,619,000
7. Tim McGraw - 37,591,000
8. Alan Jackson - 36,520,000
9. Pink Floyd - 36,520,000
10. Shania Twain - 33,707,000

The top ten selling albums of the SoundScan era:

1. Come On Over - Shania Twain - 15,473,000
2. Metallica - Metallica - 15,319,000
3. Jagged Little Pill - Alanis Morissette - 14,607,000
4. Millenneum - Backstreet Boys - 12,104,000
5. Bodyguard - Soundtrack (Whitney Houston) - 11,805,000
6. Supernatural - Santana - 11,673,000
7. Human Clay - Creed - 11,525,000
8. 1 - Beatles - 11,345,000
9. No Strings Attached - N'Sync - 11,109,000
10. Falling Into You - Celine Dion - 10,777,000