1: Aretha Franklin Topping our list of the best female singers of all time, Aretha Franklin also stands as the most-charting female singer in history. Starting out in the gospel choir at her Baptist church, in Detroit, Franklin began her career as a recording artist in 1960, aged just 18.
Madonna is recognized by Guinness World Records as the "Best-selling female recording artist of all time".
Mariah Carey
You'd be hard-pressed to find a singer who can sing higher than Mariah. This international superstar has a vocal range covering five octaves, which is not bad!
Known by the real name of “Céline Marie Claudette Dion”.
The top-selling female-fronted album of all time based on certified unit sales worldwide is currently Whitney Houston's 1992-released 'The Bodyguard Soundtrack,' with a massive 45 million copies sold.
The Bodyguard soundtrack by Whitney Houston (with various artists) is the best-selling album credited to a woman; its sales are over 50 million copies since its release in November 1992.
Yayoi Kusama (b. 1929) is arguably the most famous female artist alive today. Yayoi Kusama is a contemporary artist known for her profuse use of polka dots and her extensive body of work which includes paintings, sculpture, clothing, art objects, performances, and installations.
It broke three UK chart records in the process. With 44 years since her last number one, "Wuthering Heights" in 1978, Bush surpassed Tom Jones's 42-year gap between number ones and replaced Cher as the oldest female solo chart-topping artist at 63 years and 11 months.
Abel Tesfaye, more commonly known as The Weeknd, is statistically the most popular musician on the planet, and no one else even comes close. The 33-year-old Canadian singer's success has seen him set two new Guinness World Records titles: Most monthly listeners on Spotify – 111.4 million (as of 20 March 2023)
According to Guinness World Records, Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" (1942) as performed by Bing Crosby is the best-selling single worldwide, with estimated sales of over 50 million copies.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, British rock band The Beatles are top of the list for best-selling artists worldwide, with 183 million units certified sales. Second is Garth Brooks with over 157 million units sales, followed by Elvis Presley with 139 million units.
Garth Brooks is the artist with the most diamond albums.
Whitney Houston 'I Will Always Love You'
This single spent 14 weeks at number one making it one of the best-selling singles of all time. It also holds the record for being the best-selling single by a woman in music history.
1 singles by a female artist. Mariah Carey (USA) has topped the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart on 19 different occasions.
American singer-songwriter and producer Madonna has achieved a record-extending 50 number-one songs on the U.S. Billboard Dance Club Songs chart.
Not only are Spice Girls the most commercially successful girl group of all time, with 80 million records sold during their career, they're also by far the most influential of modern times.
Contraltos are arguably the rarest of female voice types and they possess a tone so dark they often give the men a run for their money. If mezzos are like clarinets, contraltos are more like bass clarinets.
As of June 2023, "Blinding Lights" (2019) by Canadian singer the Weeknd is the most-streamed song of all time on Spotify, while "Dance Monkey" (2019) by Australian singer-songwriter Tones and I is the most-streamed song by a female artist.