Carrie Underwood received official word this week that she was the bestselling country music performer of the digital era, having moved for than 29.6 million tracks in her career. That places her ahead of Jason Aldean and his 23.5 million digital sales, at least for the time being. Despite moving more than 5 million copies of hits such as "Before He Cheats," Underwood is still far, FAR behind some of the best sellers in the digital history of other genres (country musicians benefit from having a fan base still very dedicated to buying albums, as Luke Bryan will note when he tops Dr. Dre on the album charts at the end of this week). It got us thinking: What performers are at the top of their respective genres? Check out the biggest names below:
POP: Rihanna...100 million downloads
Rihanna's not only the bestselling pop star of the digital era...she's the bestselling performer in the entirety of the digital era, and also the only performer to move more than 100 million singles. And she's got some heady competition in this genre, as Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga represent three of the other spots in the Top 5 all-time. Consider that Underwood's bestselling single went five-times platinum...Rihanna has four: "Umbrella," "Disturbia," "Rude Boy and "Diamonds." Oh, and the two single that went six-times platinum: "Only Girl (In The World" and "What's My Name?" Oh, AND the Calvin Harris-assisted smash "We Found Love," which has gone an incredible nine-times platinum. So yes, in short, publishing companies better have her money. She also benefits from guest-starring in as many smash hits as anyone in recent years, lending her vocals to Eminem's "Love The Way You Lie" and "Monster," as well as Kanye West's "All Of The Lights," T.I.'s "Live Your Life" Drake's "Take Care" and Jay Z's "Run This Town." And that is how you go 100-times platinum in the digital era.
Hip-Hop: Kanye West...47.5 million downloads
Let's add one more point to clarify Rihanna's success: Kanye West comes nowhere close to her sales total, having moved "only" 47.5 million downloads in his day, but also realize that he's also the no. 4 digital sales performer of all time. That's some context. His biggest success came in the form of 2007's "Stronger," which has moved 7 million copies, while singles "Gold Digger" and "Heartless" both produced 5 million in sales. One more of his tracks, "Niggas In Paris," has gone five-times platinum as part of his work with Jay Z under the Watch The Throne moniker. Although rappers tend to sell singles at a much slower rate than pop stars, he could be seeing some competition from other emcees soon. Lil Wayne, Eminem and Flo Rida have all cracked 30 million in sales, which may seem like a long way away from West's 47.5 million, but they also have continued to release more popular singles, while West has focused on more critically-acclaimed, if less sales viable singles.
R&B: Adele...22 million
This entry on the list will certainly generate some controversy among a number of our readers: Can Adele really be considered R&B? Music Times will answer "yes." It's tough to argue that her vocal and instrumental style can be considered pop and although "blue-eyed soul" might merit some disdain from the genre's purists, it is soul nonetheless. And soul fits into R&B, at least for the sake of this list, meaning that the Adeles and Sam Smiths of the world will have to settle there. Some might argue that Rihanna and Beyoncé (24 million downloads), who rank ahead of Adele in terms of total digital sales, should earn this spot. But let's be real: Although both of those performers have certainly touched on R&B throughout their careers, they're best described as pop stars. That said, more than half of the 22 million total listed above can be attributed to two songs: "Rolling In The Deep" (seven-times platinum) and "Someone Like You" (five-times platinum).
Rock: Fall Out Boy...19.5 million downloads
Rock music is certainly not a genre where performers can hope to survive on digital singles alone, yet Fall Out Boy has managed to do fairly well. Like Underwood, the pop punk group has "just" one track that has gone five-times platinum: "My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark ("Light 'Em Up)." This group is also one of the least comfortable in its position as the record holder for its respective genre. Imagine Dragons has torn up the singles charts in comparison to other rockers, having already moved 16 million singles with just two albums. "Radioactive" has moved 10 million copies and "Demons" another 5 million. Odds are the group can turn out one more single that will resonate on both the rock charts and the Billboard Hot 100.
EDM: David Guetta...12 million downloads
The majority of electronic dance music DJs makes most of their music sales, if at all, by selling digital downloads. That explains the popularity of music outlets that specialize in the genre, such as Beatport, and how performers such as Hardwell top "Best DJ" lists without releasing any actual studio albums (he has since released an LP, although after being named DJMag's top-ranked producer). Most of the money these guys make is off of nightclub residencies and festival dates, but some have managed to crack into the Hot 100 as well. David Guetta earned his most success with "Sexy Bitch," a single featuring Akon from his 2009 album One Love, and then added to that total in 2011 with the album Nothing But The Beat, which produced three double-platinum tracks and one more platinum single, "Where Them Girls At."
