That is official.

The only internationally recognised governing body of record sales is the IFPI.

To date, the combined sales of albums and singles have Madonna way, way ahead.

The only “source” to ever claim Mariah Carey is the World Music Awards which as we all know is a silly made up ceremony based on who will attend any given year. The only internationally recognised source for sales stats is the IFPI.

Their latest sales stats at September 2007 are:

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) just released their updated figures. The top 20 is noted below. Note that Madonna is the highest selling female artist ever and also the only artist in the top 5 who didn’t have a release prior to 1980. Also note that Mariah still hasn’t topped Nana Mouskouri! She claims to be the top selling female and she isn’t even number 2 yet! Also note that this doesn’t the 10.1million selling massive selling “Confessions on a Dance Floor” CD, 2million sales of Im Going to Tell You a Secret, 2million of Confessions Tour, 9million sales of Hung Up, 6million of Sorry, 4million of Get Together and 1.5million of Jump.

01. The Beatles 40+ 400,000,000 UK 60s (1962-1970) Rock/Pop Guinness/EMI

02. Michael Jackson 14 350,000,000 US 70s-00s (1979-) Pop/R&B MJ Stats

03. Elvis Presley 150+ 300,000,000 US 50s-70s (1956-1977) Country/Rock

04. Madonna 16 275,000,000 US 80s-00s (1984-) Pop WBR [1]

05. Nana Mouskouri 450 250,000,000 Greece 60s-00s (1959-) Pop [2][3]

06. Cliff Richard 60+ 250,000,000 UK 50s-00s (1959-1969,1977-1979,1986-1999 ) Rock/Pop [4]

07.The Rolling Stones 54 ~250,000,000 UK 60s-00s (1964-1981) Rock 60.5 million in the US [5]

08. Mariah Carey 14 230,000,000 US 90s-00s (1990-) Pop/R&B

Sadly Mariah Carey fans seem to quote silly industry awards and that ludicrous (and retracted) World Music Awards claim and ignore the solitary and only official source of data above.

Mariah’s management were apparently fined in 2006 for claiming she was the Biggest Selling Female of All Time and all European Mimi adverts stating this claim were withdrawn.

Poor Mariah fans just cant handle that she isnt first, nor second, but is third. Given that she hasnt been big outside of the US since the 90s, its unlikely she’ll ever overtake Nana or Madonna, especially as Madonna’s sales are strong (Confessions in 2005 was number 1 in more countries than any other album in history and has sold 10.1million copies so far).

Id expect we get a silly lot of responses from Mariah fans now quoting how many silly “Best R&B Video” and World Music Awards she has won, the facts remain, she is 3rd, and nothing will ever change that.

And to make it sweet, Carey has 3 bigger flopped album than Madonna 1) Glitter 2) E=Mc2 3) Memoirs of An Old Diva.

1. yeah so mariah has done so much and made so much in 10 years…have we considered that back when madonna started times and economic spending was much different? Not to mention that accessibility to music was much diff. Hello if i had iTunes back in the 80s….Imagine if the economy was like it is now when Madonna started…she would have definitely created a MAJOR gap between her and Mariah.

2. yeah yeah talent blah blah blah…people Madonna has learned the secret to this industry like only some artists have…you have got to sell yourself. give the people what they want but at the same time give them the unexpected. Mariah doesn’t do that. You can almost predict that it will be R&B, Power Ballads, and some sort of gospel solo somewhere on her album. Madonna…well all u r guaranteed is a ballad. She has touched every genre of music and has made it her own. Lets take a look:
Pop- (like a virgin, most of her early albums)
R&B/Hip hop- (erotica)
Electronica/House- (bedtime stories)
Electronica/Techno/Trance- (ray of light and music)
Country- (music)
Dance- (confessions)
R&B- (hard candy)
Classical- (evita)

The only area she has touched and not been very successful at is Rap/Hip hop…yeah yeah fans i know but lets face it it’s true… Basically what i’m saying is Mariah likes to play it safe and stay inside the box whereas Madonna likes to experiment and play outside the box. It’s like comparing Karl Lagerfeld to Ralph Lauren…

3. Case and point.. Madonna is a SOLO artist. To have accomplished what she has accomplished, push the envelope, take risks(which has gained her negative reaction a lot), and continue to change the way we think of music and still do this at 50 years old??? That deserves a round of applause. Lets see if Mariah can still stay strong when she is 50 years old.

4. also lets not forget that most of Mariah’s income is coming from the contract breaking deal that payed her millions.

5. As for new artists…good luck because i think the day of ACTUAL music artists that write their own music and are about their craft are gone… the only luck you have is with Gwen Stefani. The days of the actual pop icon with longevity like Madonna, Mariah, and Whitney are gone. Gaga and Cyrus are only of the moment…and lets face it…they aren’t that talented. Gaga knows that secret that Madonna knows about selling yourself, but i dont think she will be able to reinvent herself let alone come out with another compelling album. lets just say i think she blew her all in this first go round. As for Miley…are we seriously considering her an artist? She is Disney people….Disney! Remember Hillary Duff? yeah i thought u wouldn’t…she was at the same level as Miley several years ago…nuff said.

6. And no im not swaying to either side or being a Mariah h8r…i’m just stating facts. I happen to like both Madonna and Mariah. so dont trip chocolate chip~

Madonna has more of a variety of tracks. Dance, ballads, hell, even some “rap” as you may call it.

But for Mariah, nothing fresh, nothing new… just another album with highly exaggerated high notes that get, well, annoying after a while.