answers.input_text: short
answers.span_text: The Beatles
questions: who is the most selling music artist of all time
name: List of best-selling music artists
contexts: This list includes music artists with claims of 75 million or more record sales . The artists in the following tables are listed with both their claimed sales figure along with their total of certified units and are ranked in descending order , with the artist with the highest amount of claimed sales at the top . If two or more artists have the same claimed sales , they are then ranked by certified units . The claimed sales figure and the total of certified units ( for each country ) within the provided sources include sales of albums , singles , compilation - albums , music videos as well as downloads of singles and full - length albums . Sales figures , such as those from Soundscan , which are sometimes published by Billboard magazine , have not been included in the certified units column . As of 2017 , based on both sales claims and certified units , The Beatles are considered the highest - selling band . Elvis Presley is considered the highest - selling individual artist based on sales claims and Rihanna is the highest - selling individual artist based on certified units .