What is the best-selling female single of all time?
Whitney Houston’s 1992 cover of "I Will Always Love You" is widely recognized as the best-selling single by a female artist of all time, with worldwide sales estimates ranging from 20 to 24 million copies. Released for The Bodyguard soundtrack, the song spent 14 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
Top Selling Singles of All Time by Solo Female Artists: 1. "I Will Always Love You" - Whitney Houston (20 million) 2. "My Heart Will Go On" - Celine Dion (18 million) 3. "All I Want for Christmas Is You" - Mariah Carey (16 million)
Taylor Swift has surpassed Madonna to claim the title of best-selling female artist of all time in ChartMasters' global all-time ranking. The update places Swift fifth overall among all artists, just behind The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, and Queen.
Adele. Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (born May 5, 1988) is a British singer-songwriter who has sold millions of albums worldwide and won a total of 15 Grammys as well as an Oscar.
Top 10 Best Selling Female Artists (Digital Singles Sold)
Who is the most successful female singer of all time?
Madonna. The Queen of Pop, Madonna, is the bestselling female artist of all time. She's released 14 studio albums, three soundtracks, five live albums and six compilations, plus 63 UK Top 10 singles. Since 1983, she's sold an estimated 335 million albums and singles worldwide.
What is the highest selling single of all time in the UK?
The biggest selling single of all time in the UK is "Candle in the Wind 1997" / "Something About the Way You Look Tonight" by Elton John, a tribute to Princess Diana, with sales exceeding 4.9 million copies, making it the fastest-selling single and top-selling in UK history. It holds the record over Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" (1984) and Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody".
Who is the highest earning female singer of all time?
Taylor Swift remains the female musician with the highest official annual earnings ever with $185 million in 2019, breaking the previous record set by herself in 2016 with $170 million.
With a massive 463 Number 1 songs across different charts worldwide, Madonna leads the list by a large gap. Following her is Rihanna, who has earned 384 top spots, and Shakira takes the third spot with 279. These numbers show how these women have stayed popular in many different countries for a very long time.
While exact numbers vary and are often debated, Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson are frequently cited as artists who have sold over 1 billion records, with Elvis often called the best-selling solo artist and Michael Jackson the best-selling artist overall when group sales are considered alongside solo work. The Beatles, as a group, also have figures approaching or exceeding 1 billion units in some estimates, making them top contenders.
Taylor Swift is the highest-grossing live music artist of all time. Taylor Swift is the highest-grossing live music artist of all time, collecting $3 billion according to Pollstar. U2, Coldplay, Bruce Springsteen, and Elton John also passed two-billion mark in concert revenue.
Garth Brooks is the artist famous for having nine Diamond-certified albums, a record for albums, though Drake has since surpassed him in total Diamond certifications (albums and singles combined). Brooks' nine Diamond albums include his debut, No Fences, Ropin' the Wind, The Chase, In Pieces, Sevens, The Ultimate Hits, and Double Live, among others, all representing over 10 million copies sold each.
It's a debate with different answers depending on the metric, but Taylor Swift currently leads in recent sales, streaming, and chart dominance (Eras Tour, album sales), while Beyoncé is often cited by critics like Billboard for a longer legacy of consistent influence, evolution, and impact across her 25-year career. Swift has higher current Spotify listeners and more followers, but Beyoncé has a longer track record, making her the "greatest pop star of the century" by some editorial metrics despite Swift's current numbers.
Based on Forbes, American singer Taylor Swift is the wealthiest female musician, with a net worth of US$1.6 billion as of 2024. Barbadian singer Rihanna became the first female musician to attain a billionaire status in 2021, with a net worth of $1.7 billion at that time.
Who is considered the greatest female singer of all time?
1. Madonna. The remarkable, hyper-ambitious Material Girl who never stops re-inventing herself, Madonna has sold over three hundred million records and CDs to adoring fans worldwide.
There's even a dispute over the exact title. Yet “It's a Small World,” also known as “It's a Small, Small World” and “It's a Small World (After All),” is very likely the most played song in music history — nearly 50 million times.
What is the biggest selling single by a female artist of all time?
In 2025, Guinness World Records declared that Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" was the best-selling single worldwide by a female artist, with over 24 million copies sold.
