List of highest-certified music artists in Germany
- View a machine-translated version of the German article.
- Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
- Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 9,129 articles in the main category, and specifying
|topic=
will aid in categorization. - Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
- You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is
Content in this edit is translated from the existing German Wikipedia article at [[:de:Liste von Interpreten mit den meisten durch den BVMI zertifizierten Tonträgerverkäufen]]; see its history for attribution.
- You may also add the template
{{Translated|de|Liste von Interpreten mit den meisten durch den BVMI zertifizierten Tonträgerverkäufen}}
to the talk page. - For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.
This list includes music artists with at least five million record sales in Germany, based on certifications by the BVMI (Bundesverband Musikindustrie).[1] Artists are ranked in descending order.
Awards are only presented if and when a record company applies for certification, it is not done automatically. Only records that were declared to and registered by the BVMI receive awards. The BVMI began its certifications in 1975, therefore popular artists from earlier eras are generally not represented on this list. This excludes artists such as Heintje Simons, Peter Alexander, Freddy Quinn, Caterina Valente, or the Rolling Stones, and may explain the lower-than-expected sales figures for pre-1975 artists like The Beatles. Certifications are based on a record's release date.[2]
Video albums have been included since 1991 and streaming since 2016.[3] Until 5 April 2018, a unit was equal to 1000 streams for albums and 100 streams for singles. Those numbers were raised to 2000 streams for albums and 200 streams for singles on 6 April of that year.[4]
Artists by certified units
13 million records or more
-
- Peter Maffay
- Phil Collins
- Rolf Zuckowski
- Michael Jackson
- Die Toten Hosen
Name | Nationality | Certification period | Certified units |
---|---|---|---|
Herbert Grönemeyer | German | 1984–2018 | 18,075,000 |
Peter Maffay | German | 1979–2018 | 14,350,000 |
Phil Collins | British | 1981–2011 | 14,300,000 |
Michael Jackson | American | 1983–2023 | 14,125,000 |
Rolf Zuckowski | German | 1989–2012 | 13,975,000 |
Die Toten Hosen | German | 1989–2018 | 13,650,000 |
Ed Sheeran | British | 2012–2022 | 13,350,000 |
11 to 12.9 million records
- Queen
- Madonna
-
-
-
Name | Nationality | Certification period | Certified units |
---|---|---|---|
Queen | British | 1978–2018 | 12,625,000 |
Madonna | American | 1985–2012 | 12,550,000 |
Rihanna | Barbadian | 2007–2023 | 12,275,000 |
Marius Müller-Westernhagen | German | 1981–2017 | 12,075,000 |
Helene Fischer | German | 2007–2018 | 11,150,000 |
9 to 10.9 million records
- AC/DC
-
-
-
-
- Pur
Name | Nationality | Certification period | Certified units |
---|---|---|---|
AC/DC | Australian | 1980–2016 | 10,600,000 |
Robbie Williams | British | 2000–2018 | |
ABBA | Swedish | 1976–2008 | 10,550,000 |
Andrea Berg | German | 2002–2017 | 9,600,000 |
Elton John | British | 1982–2004 | 9,550,000 |
Pur | German | 1993–2017 | 9,525,000 |
7 to 8.9 million records
Name | Nationality | Certification period | Certified units |
---|---|---|---|
Die Flippers | German | 1987–2012 | 8,650,000 |
Coldplay | British | 2000–2024 | 8,550,000[5] |
Céline Dion | Canada | 1996–2003 | 8,000,000 |
Die Ärzte | German | 1988–2012 | 7,850,000 |
Wolfgang Petry | German | 1983–2014 | 7,825,000 |
David Guetta | French | 2010–2018 | 7,800,000 |
Britney Spears | American | 1999–2023 | 7,700,000 |
The Beatles | British | 1993–2007 | 7,600,000 |
Pink Floyd | British | 1977–2015 | 7,500,000 |
6 to 6.9 million records
Name | Nationality | Certification period | Certified units |
---|---|---|---|
Bee Gees | British Australian | 1978–2005 | 6,675,000 |
Eminem | American | 2000–2018 | 6,625,000 |
Shakira | Colombian | 2002–2023 | 6,525,000 |
Backstreet Boys | American | 1996–2003 | 6,500,000 |
Dieter Bohlen | German | 1985–2017 | 6,400,000 |
Tina Turner | American Swiss | 1985–2009 | 6,300,000 |
Lady Gaga | American | 1986-2023 | 6,200,000 |
Roger Whittaker | British | 1977–2011 | 6,100,000 |
The Kelly Family | Irish American | 1994–2017 | 6,075,000 |
Joe Cocker | British | 1986–2014 | 6,050,000 |
Depeche Mode | British | 1985–2017 | |
Andrea Bocelli | Italian | 1996–1999 | 6,000,000 |
5 to 5.9 million records
-
- BAP
- Genesis
- P!nk
-
-
Name | Nationality | Certification period | Certified units |
---|---|---|---|
Eros Ramazzotti | Italian | 1988–2013 | 5,950,000 |
BAP | German | 1982–2013 | 5,900,000 |
Genesis | British | 1978–2008 | 5,875,000 |
P!nk | American | 2002–2017 | |
Linkin Park | American | 2001–2017 | 5,850,000 |
U2 | Irish | 1986–2018 | |
Modern Talking | German | 1985–2003 | 5,700,000 |
Xavier Naidoo | German | 1998–2016 | 5,625,000 |
Roxette | Swedish | 1990–2012 | |
Sting | British | 1986–2012 | 5,600,000 |
Whitney Houston | American | 1986–2009 | 5,400,000 |
Simply Red | British | 1986–2013 | 5,350,000 |
James Last | German | 1976–1999 | 5,250,000 |
Avicii | Swedish | 2012–2018 | 5,200,000 |
Timbaland | American | 2000–2018 | |
Unheilig | German | 2010–2017 | |
Bon Jovi | American | 1987–2013 | 5,150,000 |
See also
External links
- BVMI website (in German)
References
- ^ "BVMI data bank". musikindustrie.de. Retrieved 22 May 2018. (in German)
- ^ "BVMI limits". musikindustrie.de. Retrieved 22 May 2018. (in German)
- ^ "Meilenstein der Chartgeschichte: Streaming wird in offizielle deutsche Album-Charts integriert (English: Chart history milestone: streaming gets integrated in the official German album charts)". musikindustrie.de. 1 February 2016. Retrieved 22 May 2018. (in German)
- ^ "BVMI rules". musikindustrie.de. Retrieved 22 May 2018. (in German)
- ^ "BVMI: Gold-/Platin-Datenbank". Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 13 April 2024.