No fair looking it up…
According to Wiki, eight musical acts have reportedly sold over 300 million units,can you name them?
Spoil you answers
I’d say 5 of the answers are pretty obvious… which leaves roo mfor a few educated guesses.
My answers below:
[spoiler]I’m absolutely sure of:
- The Beatles
- Elvis
- Elton John
- Michael Jackson (especially if Jackson 5 era sales count)
- Led Zeppelin
After that… my educated guesses are:
- Rolling Stones
- Madonna
- Bee Gees
People I thought strongly about before rejecting them?
Abba
Mariah Carey
Whitney Houston
Pink Floyd
U2
[/spoiler]
Not bad, your first 5 are correct.1 of your educated guesses is correct,and one of your rejects.Just missing one.
I finally broke down and looked at the Wikipedia list. I must admit, I’m VERY surprised about the one act that was nowhere on any of my lists. I knew this band was popular, but not that they were HUGE.
They were pretty big in the USA, but must have been a LOT bigger in Europe and elsewhere.
Said act…
Queen
…was, indeed, absolutely enormous in Europe, and parts of Asia, and for longer than they were big in the U.S. (Was always a big fan of them, myself, and recently saw an excellent documentary on their career.)
They were HUGE in Brazil in the early 80’s, being one of the few “big” acts that bothered to tour there, from what I witnessed/heard.
My guesses:
Beatles
Elvis
ABBA
Michael Jackson
AC/DC
Whitney Houston
Mariah Carey
Madonna
Your 1st four are right and the last one.
I’m usually hopeless at music trivia, but I’ll give this one a go without looking at others’ answers. I’ll even expose myself to further ridicule by trying to put them in some sort of order. As astorian said, a few of them are obvious choices - further down the list, it’s a crapshoot. I’m probably too Brit-centric to come close. Alternatively, I may have over-compensated for this!
1. Elvis
2. The Beatles
3. Michael Jackson
4. The Rolling Stones
5. Madonna
6. Celine Dion
7. Queen
8. Dolly Parton
1 2 3 5 and 7 are correct.
The Beatles
Michael Jackson
Madonna
The Rolling Stones
Metallica
Britney Spears
Bruce Springsteen
Elvis Presley
I’m sure of the first 3 I listed, and have a feeling that
Garth Brooks
could be in there for one of these.
I’m ok with 7 of my guesses, but now realize that
Britney Spears
had little to no business in this list.
Having listened to Casey Kasem’s show, I think Pat Boone and Rick Nelson belong on the list. Aside from Elvis, they were the top charters in the pre–British Invasion era, IIRC.
Well, it strikes me that, in order to sell 300 million records (in whatever format- vinyl, tape, CD, mp3), you have to have LONGEVITY.
The Beatles sure had that- they produced a lot of output, and their records have sold steadily for 50 years. Teenyboppers bought Beatle records in 1964, and their kids bought Beatle recordings 30 years later. Countless folks have bought*** Sgt. Pepper ***in 2 or 3 different formats.
Pat Boone was HUGE in the Fifties, you’re right. But the reason he doesn’t rank near the top in all-time sales is that hardly anybody has bought his records SINCE then. Teens who loved “Love Letters in the Sand” in 1958 haven’t bought it on tape or CD since then, and their kids never got into Pat Boone.
To rank at the top, you can’t have a FEW big years. Your have to stay popular for decades.