Talk:List of best-selling singles

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duplicate entry[edit]

Bruno Mars - Grenade is listed twice

Remove Mundiya Tu Bachke[edit]

Mundiya Tu Bachke by Punjabi MC has no way sold 10 million units. Just this one inclusion is enough to not take this entire list seriously. Tintin1407 (talk) 22:11, 2 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The citation for that number only says:

"Because so much of bhangra music sales is a bootleg business, it's impossible to estimate how many copies of "Mundian To Bach Ke" have been sold in the past five years, but it's very likely that the number after the number would be "million," and a conservative estimate would be 10 million."

So that appears to be not much more than a guess from the journalist writing the article rather than a legitimate source. Secondly if you broaden the definition of sales to include bootleg copies I suspect many other songs in the list would get vastly higher numbers as they are popular tunes. Mivens (talk) 08:52, 29 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

This inaccurate entry is now being used, presumably, to perpetuate this myth that Mundiya Tu Bachke by Punjabi MC has sold ten million records, why is this fake entry not being removed. The myth is now perpetrated by a BBC article, which equally could now be used as a source reference from a "reliable" source, hence how fake news is created via Wikipedia.

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-67913510 OHemmings (talk) 00:25, 18 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Tino Rossi[edit]

It's impossible that this French song sold 30 million: it charted only in France, where it sold 5 million. Moreover, the source is affirmative for the 5 million in France, but not for the 30 million. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.215.134.14 (talk) 06:14, 19 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Numerous figures seem completely inflated[edit]

The certifications for most of these songs in no way reflect what's claimed of them and seem completely inflated, such as Bing Crosby for example. Elton John's Candle in the Wind is certified up to 32 million and would actually be the best selling single. The list should be restructured based on certified sales Never17 (talk) 20:32, 25 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Never17 I agree, ideally it can be re-structured in the same way with best-selling music artists and albums. Singles were the dominant format before the existence of first music certifications bodies, including RIAA. This could explain why some like Crosby's seasonal tracks have such amount of uncertified+reported sales. --Apoxyomenus (talk) 20:44, 25 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

There are also several cases where songs that have been certified enough to warrant a placement on the list, are under-reported like Billie Jean or Bohemian Rhapsody which released during the 80s and now have over 15 million certified

I think there should be a separate page for "List of best selling digital singles, while this page is related to songs released during the age of physical record sales. That would be probably easier for editors to manage. Never17 (talk) 03:06, 26 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I don't oppose to the idea to separate to a stand alone list of digital singles. But such split need to have a consensus. Regarding classic songs like Billie Jean or Bohemian Rhapsody, relies much how is getting more common to have a multi-platinum-diamond RIAA certifications due to the streaming era. Although a lot of those certifications weren't sales/copies "sold". A third party reference need to confirm sales of over 10 million ww, instead of a Wikipedia editor based on certifications. --Apoxyomenus (talk) 15:10, 26 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

True, i think a claimed figure from a reliable source along with the Certifications Never17 (talk) 17:45, 26 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Rihanna’s Work and Needed Me are inflated sales[edit]

She doesn’t have any single that sold over 30 million copies, there was only one article that inflated the copies, and those sales weren’t registered even by the ifpi top 10 selling singles that year world wide (only work entered on the list with 10 million, and there was not other article that certifies the amount of Needed Me) JoakopxD (talk) 02:19, 16 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Those are not copies sold, those are total units sold. Adjusted "sales". Massively streaming consumed converted figures. It's different with terminology when copies are mentioned with Candle in the wind (rightfully so) and then nowadays it's more units wording. Dhoffryn (talk) 03:12, 16 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Still not verified sales, they are based on a fan video that is mentioned on the article JoakopxD (talk) 05:22, 16 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It's mentioned in the article but if it's really based from that video that was posted and they have gotten it from there, I don't know. Maybe wait for some extra opinions from other editors. Dhoffryn (talk) 08:03, 16 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

New section[edit]

Thinking about adding a section for the 20th century singles that ranks them by their certified singles, since they came out during the physical age and most of the artists haven't been streamed enough to distort the list we'd have a individual section of the highest certified singles from that period Never17 (talk) 18:38, 26 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]