Category
|
Sales
|
Musical Act
|
Pop
|
176,000,000
|
The Beatles
|
Country
|
128,000,000
|
Garth Brooks
|
Hard Rock
|
111,500,000
|
Led Zeppelin
|
Jazz
|
48,000,000
|
Kenny G
|
Folk
|
38,500,000
|
Simon & Garfunkel
|
Rap
|
37,500,000
|
Tupac Shakur
|
Boy Band
|
37,000,000
|
Backstreet Boys
|
Celtic
|
26,500,000
|
Enya
|
Disco
|
26,000,000
|
Bee Gees
|
Grunge
|
31,500,000
|
Pearl Jam
|
|
Category
|
Sales
|
Musical Act
|
R&B
|
33,000,000
|
R. Kelly
|
Punk
|
22,500,000
|
Green Day
|
Female
|
71,500,000
|
Barbra Streisand
|
Plays Piano
|
79,500,000
|
Billy Joel
|
Latin American
|
43,000,000
|
Santana
|
Canadian
|
50,000,000
|
Celine Dion
|
Born in the 1970's
|
63,000,000
|
Mariah Carey
|
Born in the 1980's
|
32,000,000
|
Britney Spears
|
African American
|
69,500,000
|
Michael Jackson
|
Female African American
|
55,000,000
|
Whitney Houston
|
|
http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinum.php?content_selector=top-selling-artists
Same goes for the Beatles who were a rock n roll band, not a pop artist. A pop artist is most likely a single performer or "front" with musicians and/or producers who are not credited as a band or a whole. I believe MJ would definitely be the best-selling musical act in this category.