List of best-selling sheet music

[2] Stephen Foster's "Massa's in the Cold Ground" sales of 75,000 copies by 1852, was considered "phenomenal" since music publishers did not try to promote songs.

[3] Toward the end of the century, during the Tin Pan Alley era, sheet music was sold by dozens and even hundreds of publishing companies.

[5] Reports widely vary to confirm the first million-seller song in sheet music; examples include "When This Cruel War Is Over" (1863),[10] "After the Ball" (by 1892 or 1893),[11][12][13][a] and "Funiculì, Funiculà" in 1880.

[11][17] With the advent of the radio broadcasting, sheet music sales of popular songs decreased and print figures failed to make a significant recovery after the World War II (1940s).

[22] Occasionally, Billboard reported the best-selling folios and singles sheet yearly,[23] or by music publishing companies.