The Most Successful Recording Artists Of All Time

The Most Successful Recording Artists Of All Time

From 1890 to Today

A celebration of over 130 years of recorded music history. Written through the lens of the most successful artists who topped the Music Charts from the 19th century to today.

The diverse artists who brought us ground-breaking and popular music. The book chronicles the sudden, or gradual, rise of major artists like Al Jolson, Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Drake and Taylor Swift, over the years.

Listing the most successful artist of each year as musical and social environments changed, and musical and technological innovations were developed or exploited. 

The most successful artists of all time tracked year by year, with their  slow or sudden rise in popularity.

The Top artists of each decade are listed separately as our listening experience changed from wax cylinders to digital streaming. As musical genres such as Jazz, Rock ‘N Roll and Hip Hop, were excitedly accepted or fiercely rejected. And as the unequal treatment of African American artists and women finally changed and they too shared the enormous success the recording industry had to offer.

• HARDCOVER, 312 pages

• Printed in COLOUR

• Based on JOEL WHITBURN Music Chart analysis "Pop Memories 1890-1954"

• Based on BILLBOARD MUSIC CHARTS 1933-2023

• Listing the most successful artist of each year and all of their Number 1 recordings.

• The Top 30 most successful artists of all time.

• QR codes linked to YouTube content of their biggest hits.

• The Top 3 artists of each decade.

• 2024 EDITION

• PAPERBACK, 101 pages

• Printed in BLACK & WHITE

• Based on JOEL WHITBURN Music Chart analysis "Pop Memories 1890-1954"

• Based on BILLBOARD MUSIC CHARTS 1933-2024

• Listing the most successful artist of each year. 

• The Top 100 most successful artists of all time, the number of weeks they spent on the charts and at Number 1.

• The Top 5 artists of each decade.

• 2025 EDITION