Second best-selling musician of all time has sold 68 million more albums than Michael Jackson and hardly anyone's heard of him
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If you were ever to be asked in a pub quiz who is the second-best selling musician of all time, you'll likely pluck up some really big names.
Whether that is The Beatles, Elvis Presley or Led Zeppelin - it would be a really tricky question, but one you'd think would be limited to just a few legendary names.
If you answered The Beatles, then you would be incorrect, as the legendary Liverpool band have shipped 183 million units, making them the best-selling musicians in the US, according to the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA).
However, Presley and Zeppelin would also be incorrect, with the latter coming in fifth place with 112.5 million units and Presley in third with 146.5 million sales.
What is more surprising is that there is a big gap to the late Michael Jackson, who is in sixth place with 89 million units.
But the singer who is in second place is perhaps the most surprising, being a staggering 68 million units ahead of the 'Thriller' singer.
The singer to take the silver medal with an impressive 157 million units sold in the US is country music artist Garth Brooks.
While country music certainly has its niche audience, Brooks has garnered a lot of fans in the US, though he is a pretty unknown figure to many in the UK.
Brooks has perhaps brought in a bigger audience to his music because of his integration of pop and rock elements into country music, which makes his music pretty unique.
The 61-year-old, from Oklahoma, US, has achieved great success with multiple albums and singles in the US charts.
He is even a record-breaker as well, as he is the only artist in music history to have released a staggering nine albums that have been certified diamond by the RIAA.
A diamond certification is awarded to an album that has shipped more than ten million units, with Brooks well ahead of The Beatles in second place with six diamond awards.
With all the success of studio albums and record-breaking live performances, Brooks did suffer a setback in 2001, as conflicts between career and family brought a halt to things until 2005.
Despite that, Brooks has been extremely successful in the US, and it is a bit of a shame more of his music hasn't caught on in the UK.
As a mark of all his achievements, Brooks was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2016 with his studio musicians The G-Men.
He has also appeared on the world stage, as he performed at the inauguration of Joe Biden in January 2021.
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Topics: Music, Michael Jackson
