5 Rock Artists Who Outsold Almost Everyone

Rock music, in its various forms and subgenres, has been one of the most popular types of music since it stormed the scene in the '50s and '60s. There have been plenty of times when rock songs topped the charts. Cumulatively, rock groups and artists have sold millions upon millions of albums. But even so, there have been a few who stood above the rest.

The rock acts and artists on this list have climbed to the top of the sales numbers, breaking records and outselling everyone in specific categories. Some have the most total sales in the history of rock music while others have the top sales for a single album or the most sales in a specific region — namely the U.S. and Britain; you know, where rock has historically been the most popular.

The sales numbers we've used hold up in the modern day. So, while someone might have the top albums of the '70s, if those album sales don't remain the top throughout the years, they didn't make the cut. That said, with people like Elvis Presley and bands like Queen on the list, you know the top sellers in rock history are truly some of the most legendary as well. Let's check 'em out.

Everyone knows the Beatles were popular — that's not really up for debate. So it makes sense that they've sold more album copies than any other group or artist in the history of — well — history. The Beatles have been influencing rock and pop music since they appeared on the scene in the early '60s. Nearly everyone in English-speaking countries has heard their music. We've sung their songs in chorus and played them in marching bands. We've used their music in movie scores and advertisements. NASA even beamed "Across the Universe" through the galaxy in 2008.

As of 2014, according to CBS News, the band had sold more than 600 million copies across their entire discography. Though, the band's official Guinness World Record for best-selling group from 2001 says they've sold over 1 billion copies across all playable media. Incidentally, if you add the numbers from the Beatles with Wings and Paul McCartney's solo career, it makes him the highest selling artist ever.

In total, the Beatles have had 19 albums take the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 and 20 No. 1 singles on the Billboard 100. This also makes the band the leader in both most No. 1 albums and songs in Billboard chart history — not to mention they're leading on Billboard's "Greatest Artists of All Time." Basically, the Beatles are the undisputed kings of the pop charts, and it doesn't look like that will change anytime soon.

AC/DC started out as a small rock band in Sydney, Australia, first formed by Scottish brothers Malcom and Angus Young. They gained fame down under before moving to London in the '70s. This move brought them from the Australian stage to an international one, and they were soon famous across Britain as well. Then, in 1980, they released an album that would change the trajectory of their careers forever, taking them from a rock band known on two continents to one of the best-selling bands in all of music.

Nowadays, when it comes to hard rock, AC/DC is a household name, but they might not be the sort of band that you'd expect to be a mainstream success. That, of course, would be incorrect. AC/DC has blown past the rock world and climbed into the pop charts with seven of their singles, peaking at No. 23 on the Billboard 100. This Australian rock band sits in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and has even won the best hard rock performance Grammy in 2010. And, when it comes to sales, the band's iconic 1980 "Back in Black" album has higher sales than any other album in all of rock music, at nearly 50 million.

The roughly 50 million sales of "Back in Black" puts it at No. 2 across all music genres, sitting behind Michael Jackson's "Thriller" around 70 million copies sold. Looks like the highway to hell brought them to legendary status along the way.

The Eagles need no introduction — but we're going to do it anyway. The band hails from Los Angeles, and they're one of the icons of California rock music. Their historic songs, like "Desperado" and "Hotel California," show how they blended folk and West Coast country with the rock of the '70s to produce a unique sound that would remain their signature for decades.

The band released their self-titled debut album in 1972, and it quickly peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard 200. Over the years, they'd see six other albums take the same chart's No. 1 spot along with several chart-topping singles on the Billboard Hot 100. They likewise secured six Grammy wins, took home five American Music Awards, and were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. And when it comes to sales, the Eagles' 1976 album "Their Greatest Hits 1971–1975" sits at the top in the United States.

The album currently holds the title for most sales of a single album in the United States with more than 40 million copies sold, 50 years after its release. That means, at home, it's beaten the Beatles. It ran past Elvis Presley. And, it's even beaten out the top selling albums worldwide, like "Back in Black" and "Thriller." That said, "Thriller" is a close second and held this same title previously with 33 million U.S. sales.

Queen is truly a one-of-a-kind rock band. Freddy Mercury's spectacular voice and songwriting talent raised the band from a small musical group of post-secondary students in 1971 to international rock legends whose names will never be forgotten. Don't get us wrong, Bryan May's layered guitar work, John Deacon's bass lines, and Roger Taylor's flying drumsticks certainly helped, but it was Mercury who led the charge.

The band was popular all around the globe — they sold nearly 300 million records internationally — but nowhere did they climb the ladder like they did at home in the U.K. To put this into perspective, Queen's debut album peaked at No. 83 on the Billboard 200 while it reached No. 24 on the U.K. album charts. Likewise, "Queen II" hit No. 5 in Britain and only reached No. 49 in the U.S. Then comes the band's 1981 "Greatest Hits" album, which hit No. 8 in the U.S., peaked No. 1 in the U.K., and has outsold every other album in U.K. history.

Seriously, Queen's "Greatest Hits" has sold over 7 million copies of this album as of 2022 to a country with just under 70 million people. That's one copy to every 10 citizens, a crazy level of popularity. Following Queen in the U.K. lineup are ABBA's "Gold: Greatest Hits" and Oasis' "(What's the Story) Morning Glory?" This conclusively proves that the U.K. has fantastic taste in music, right?

Move over, rock 'n' roll underlings, the king has come to town. Elvis Presley has retained an unheard of popularity through the years for a rock artist who first broke through in 1956. Looking at modern formats, we can see that this pioneer of rock music is still widely listened to. His music has nearly 24 million monthly streams on Spotify alone. Granted, we'll probably see these numbers decline over future decades as millennials gradually age into the oldest generation, since the majority of Elvis fans are likely one the older side.

Even so, his record sales will be difficult for other artists to beat anytime soon. In 2018 he held the most Recording Industry Association of America certified albums than any other solo rock artist in history: 101 gold or higher certificates. In total, he's seen 146.5 million units sold in the U.S. (across all mediums), 24 multi-platinum album certificates, 32 platinum album certificates, 44 gold certificates, and 1 of the holy grails — a Diamond certificate for his 1957 "Elvis' Christmas Album."

Whether or not you're in the Elvis fan-camp, the facts speak for themselves: Elvis, like the others on this list, is a rockstar who's outsold just about every other artist or group out there.