Record sales

[10][11][12] Although an accurate worldwide sales figure is hard to determine, it is widely acknowledged that the Beatles have sold more records than any other artist in history.

[19] Following the invention of the phonograph, by Thomas Edison in 1877,[20] the music industry began hiring singers to record songs made by composers.

Musical film soundtracks, jazz works, and thematic albums by singers such as Frank Sinatra quickly utilized the new longer format.

The careers of notable rock and roll performers such as Elvis Presley were driven primarily by single sales.

[23] From the early 1980s, the CD became the dominant format for both albums and singles, due to factors such as higher audio quality, durability, ease of use, and longer playing time.

[26] Aside of paid advertising in print or broadcast media, radio airplay is one of the most important tools to sell records.

This strategy led Billboard and Nielsen SoundScan tighten up their policy on how tickets bundled with albums would count for charting purposes.

[31] Travis Scott bundled his 2018 album Astroworld with his 28-piece merchandise line, which contributed to first-week sales exceeding 270,000 traditional units and a number-one debut on the Billboard 200.

In January 2008, media reported that over one million unsold copies of Robbie Williams's album Rudebox were sent to China to be crushed.