# List of biggest-selling British music artists

This list documents Britain's best-selling music artists alphabetically as well as by record sales. This page lists those artists who have had claims of over one million or more records in sales. The list is divided into numerous record-sales brackets within each of which, artists are listed in alphabetical order, rather than by number of records sold. The artists on the list are supported by third-party reliable sources, the sales-figures within which should represent a total number of sold albums, singles, compilation-albums, music videos as well as downloads of singles and full-length albums. This list holds no account of sales after the initial release dates, some artists keep on selling albums they originally released for instance in 1972. those albums sold over the years in their millions.

## Constraints

Although the criteria for the following list are intended to be expansive (including comparisons for total-sales for all recording artists) there are certain limitations and constraints that may limit the conclusions that can be derived from these data. There is no certainty these figures are correct for not all sales are controllable.
Such constraints include:
* Bias towards acts who have had success in a specific country or region.
* Bias towards older artists. There is a broader genre spectrum of music to listen to now which limits the number of listeners.
* Bias towards modern artists. Comparatively fewer successful pre-modern artists will have sold more records, as both global spending power and population have increased. In 1950, the world's population was 2.5 billion; by 2000 it had risen to 6 billion. Also, older artists suffer from bias as their record sales are less likely to have been accurately tracked, and estimates of their early sales are likely to be more vague.
* Fan sites, press articles and record labels have been known to inflate record sales claims.
* Inflated claims for artists who performed in different acts during their careers. Sometimes all of the sales data is attributed to an individual artist. For the purposes of this list, an effort is made to separate the individual acts (e.g., the sales figures for The Beatles and Paul McCartney & Wings are mutually exclusive).

## 400 million or more records

| Artist | Biggest selling album | Period | Genre | Claimed sales |
| The Beatles | Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band | 1960–1970 | Pop / Rock | 600 million 500 million |

## 300 million to 400 million records

| Artist | Biggest selling album | Period | Genre | Claimed sales |
| Elton John | Goodbye Yellow Brick Road | 1964–present | Pop / Rock | 300 million |
| Led Zeppelin | Led Zeppelin IV | 1968–1980 | Hard rock / Heavy metal | 200-300 million |

## 200 million to 299 million records

| Artist | Biggest selling album | Period | Genre | Claimed sales |
| Cliff Richard | Always Guaranteed | 1958–present | Pop / Rock / Rock N Roll / Jazz | 260 million |
| Bee Gees | Saturday Night Fever | 1958-2003 | Pop / Disco / Soul / Rock / Soft Rock | 220 million |
| David Bowie | Let's Dance | 1964–2016 | Rock | 200 million |
| Queen | Greatest Hits | 1970–present | Glam rock / Hard rock | 170-200 million |
| Pink Floyd | The Dark Side of the Moon | 1964–2014 | Progressive rock | 200 million |
| The Rolling Stones | Hot Rocks 1964–1971 | 1962–present | Rock / Blues rock | 200 million |

## 100 million to 199 million records

| Artist | Biggest selling album | Period | Genre | Claimed sales |
| Ed Sheeran | × | 2011–present | Pop | 150 million |
| Genesis | Invisible Touch | 1967–present | Progressive rock / Pop rock | 150 million |
| Phil Collins | No Jacket Required | 1980–present | Adult contemporary | 150 million |
| Shirley Bassey | The Shirley Bassey Singles Album | 1957–present | Pop | 135 million |
| Status Quo | 12 Gold Bars | 1967–present | Rock | 130 million |
| Adele | 21 | 2006–present | Pop / Soul | 120 million |
| Dire Straits | Brothers in Arms | 1977–1995 | Rock / Pop | 103 million |
| Coldplay | A Rush of Blood to the Head | 1997–present | Alternative rock | 100 million |
| The Dave Clark Five | – | 1964–1970 | Pop rock / Beat | 100 million |
| Deep Purple | Machine Head | 1968–present | Hard rock | 100 million |
| Depeche Mode | Violator | 1980–present | Electro Rock | 100 million |
| Fleetwood Mac | Rumours | 1967–present | Pop rock | 100 million |
| George Michael | Faith | 1981–2016 | Pop | 100 million |
| Iron Maiden | The Number of the Beast | 1975–present | Heavy metal | 100 million |
| Paul McCartney | Pipes of Peace | 1957–present | Pop rock | 100 million |
| Pet Shop Boys | Actually | 1981–present | Synthpop | 100 million |
| The Who | Who's Next | 1964–present | Rock / Hard rock | 100 million |
| Rod Stewart | Out of Order | 1962–present | Rock / Pop | 100 million |
| Def Leppard | Hysteria | 1977–present | Hard rock / heavy metal | 100 million |

## 50 to 99 million records

| Artist | Biggest selling album | Period | Genre | Claimed sales |
| Spice Girls | Spice | 1996–2000 2007–2008 | Pop, Euro Pop | 90 million |
| Eurythmics | Greatest Hits | 1980–present | New wave | 75 million |
| Robbie Williams | I've Been Expecting You | 1990–present | Pop | 75 million |
| Oasis | (What's the Story) Morning Glory? | 1991–2009 2024–present | Britpop / Rock | 75 million |
| The Police | Synchronicity | 1977–present | Pop rock / New Wave | 75 million |
| Little Mix | Glory Days | 2011–2022 | Pop, R&B, dance-pop | 75 million |
| Duran Duran | Rio | 1978–present | New wave / alternative rock | 70 million |
| One Direction | Midnight Memories | 2010–2015 | Pop-rock / power pop | 70 million |
| UB40 | Promises and Lies | 1980–present | Reggae | 100 million |
| Supertramp | Breakfast in America | 1969–present | Progressive rock | 60 million |
| Jethro Tull | Aqualung | 1968–present | Progressive rock / hard rock | 60 million |
| T. Rex | The Slider | 1967–1977 | Glam rock / Folk rock | 58 million |
| Black Sabbath | Paranoid | 1968–present | Heavy metal | 50 million |
| Culture Club | Colour by Numbers | 1982–present | New wave-pop | 50 million |