List of best-selling singles in the United States

This is a list of best selling singles in the United States that have been certified by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). All of these singles have shipped over three million copies, meaning they were certified Multi-Platinum. ("White Christmas" is an Irving Berlin song reminiscing about an old-fashioned Christmas setting. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the version sung by Bing Crosby is the best-selling single of all time, with estimated sales in excess of 50 million copies worldwide.)

Contents 1 What makes a single? 2 Notes about RIAA certification 3 Records 3.1 Over 11 million copies 3.2 Over 8 million copies 3.3 Over 7 million copies 3.4 Over 6 million copies 3.5 Over 5 million copies 3.6 Over 4 million copies 3.7 Over 3 million copies 4 Best-selling single by year 5 Achievements 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

What makes a single?

In music, a single is a song considered commercially viable enough by the artist and record company to be released separately from an album, usually featured on an album as well. For more information, see single.

Notes about RIAA certification

• The RIAA certifies a record only if that record company pays for its official certification; some companies do not consider this an important distinction and will not request certifications unless pressed by its active, still saleable artists. A full and complete list of RIAA-certified recordings would be a very incomplete list of popular American music.

• The RIAA only certifies a particular recording of a song. For example, sales of Elton John's original "Candle in the Wind" single are not counted towards the 1997 version's official total.

• Retroactive RIAA certification only goes back to 1958; thus, a record like Bing Crosby's "White Christmas", released in 1942 and reported in 1963 as having sold 30 million copies, and currently listed by the Guinness Book of World Records at 50 million sales, would not be eligible. Bill Haley and His Comets' "Rock Around the Clock" is assumed to have sold more than 25 million copies since 1955. According to Billboard magazine's statistician Joel Whitburn, other pre-1958 singles that would be affected by this cutoff point include Gene Autry's "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (8 million sales reported); Crosby's "Silent Night" (7 million); Vernon Dalhart's "The Prisoner's Song" (7 million); the Mills Brothers' "Paper Doll" (6 million); Patti Page's "The Tennessee Waltz" (6 million); Gene Austin's "My Blue Heaven" (5 million); and Ben Selvin's "Dardanella" (5 million); and another 21 single releases in the 2-3 million range. (That is, assuming their respective record companies would elect to bear the optional expense of an official RIAA certification. It is unlikely, for example, that Sony BMG Music Entertainment, which absorbed RCA Records, which in turn had long ago purchased the Victor Talking Machine Company, now sees any particular advantage in precisely determining the sales for Selvin's 1920 smash hit on Victor Records.) The first officially RIAA-certified million-selling single was Perry Como's "Catch a Falling Star", in March 1958.

• Prior to 1989, singles were awarded with a Gold certification for sales of 1,000,000 units and a Platinum certification for sales of 2,000,000 units. For certification dates after January 1, 1989, a Gold award represents sales of 500,000 units and a Platinum award represents sales of 1,000,000 units.

Records

In alphabetical order within sections.

Over 11 million copies

• "Candle in the Wind 1997"/"Something About the Way You Look Tonight", Elton John^[1]

Over 8 million copies

• "We Are the World", USA for Africa^[2]

Over 7 million copies

• "I Gotta Feeling", The Black Eyed Peas^[3]

Over 6 million copies

• "Boom Boom Pow", The Black Eyed Peas^[4]
• "I'm Yours", Jason Mraz^[5]
• "Just Dance", Lady Gaga^[6]
• "Low", Flo Rida featuring T-Pain^[7]
• "Poker Face", Lady Gaga^[8]
• "Tik Tok", Kesha^[9]

Over 5 million copies

• "Bad Romance", Lady Gaga^[10]
• "Apologize", Timbaland presents OneRepublic^[11]
• "California Gurls", Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg^[12]
• "Dynamite", Taio Cruz^[13]
• "Fuck You", Cee Lo Green^[11]
• "Firework", Katy Perry^[14]
• "Hey Soul Sister", Train^[15]
• "Hot n Cold", Katy Perry^[16]
• "Love Story", Taylor Swift^[17]
• "Need You Now", Lady Antebellum^[18]
• "Love the Way You Lie", Eminem feat. Rihanna^[7]
• "Party Rock Anthem", LMFAO feat. Lauren Bennett and GoonRock^[19]
• "Right Round", Flo Rida feat. Kesha^[20]
• "Rolling in the Deep", Adele^[21]
• "Viva la Vida", Coldplay^[22]

Over 4 million copies

• "Bleeding Love", Leona Lewis^[22]
• "Disturbia", Rihanna^[7]
• "Down", Jay Sean featuring Lil Wayne^[23]
• "E.T.", Katy Perry featuring Kanye West^[24]
• "Fireflies", Owl City^[25]
• "Gives You Hell", The All-American Rejects^[26]
• "Grenade", Bruno Mars^[27]
• "Hey Jude", The Beatles^[28]
• "Hound Dog"/"Don't Be Cruel", Elvis Presley^[29]
• "I Kissed a Girl", Katy Perry^[30]
• "I Will Always Love You", Whitney Houston^[31]
• "Just the Way You Are", Bruno Mars^[32]
• "Let It Rock", Kevin Rudolf featuring Lil Wayne^[33]
• "Live Your Life", T.I. featuring Rihanna^[34]
• "Lollipop", Lil Wayne featuring Static Major^[4]
• "Lose Yourself", Eminem^[16]
• "Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix)", Los Del Rio^[35]
• "Moves Like Jagger", Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera^[36]
• "Not Afraid", Eminem^[37]
• "Party in the U.S.A.", Miley Cyrus^[38]
• "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", Beyoncé^[39]
• "So What", Pink^[40]
• "Stronger", Kanye West^[30]
• "Teenage Dream", Katy Perry^[41]
• "Whoomp! (There It Is)", Tag Team^[42]

Over 3 million copies

• "Airplanes", B.o.B featuring Hayley Williams^[43]
• "Baby", Justin Bieber featuring Ludacris^[44]
• "Bad Day", Daniel Powter^[45]
• "BedRock", Young Money featuring Lloyd^[46]
• "Before He Cheats", Carrie Underwood^[22]
• "Billionaire", Travie McCoy featuring Bruno Mars^[47]
• "Break Your Heart", Taio Cruz^[48]
• "Chasing Cars", Snow Patrol^[49]
• "The Climb", Miley Cyrus^[50]
• "Crazy", Gnarls Barkley featuring Cee Lo Green^[30]
• "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love", Usher^[9]
• "Dead and Gone", T.I. featuring Justin Timberlake^[9]
• "Don't Stop the Music", Rihanna^[51]
• "Don't Trust Me", 3OH!3^[52]
• "Empire State of Mind", Jay-Z & Alicia Keys^[53]
• "Eye of the Tiger", Survivor^[54]
• "Gangsta's Paradise", Coolio featuring L.V.^[55]
• "Give Me Everything", Pitbull featuring Ne-Yo, Afrojack & Nayer^[9]
• "Gold Digger", Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx^[56]
• "Heartless", Kanye West^[57]
• "Hey There Delilah", Plain White T's^[58]
• "How Do I Live", LeAnn Rimes^[59]
• "How to Save a Life", The Fray^[60]
• "I Like It", Enrique Iglesias feat. Pitbull ^[61]
• "I'll Be Missing You", Puff Daddy & Faith Evans featuring 112^[62]
• "Irreplaceable", Beyoncé^[63]
• "Just A Dream", Nelly ^[64]
• "The Look", Metronomy^[65]
• "Love Lockdown", Kanye West^[66]
• "Love Me Tender"/"Any Way You Want Me", Elvis Presley^[67]
• "Love Song", Sara Bareilles^[68]
• "No Air", Jordin Sparks featuring Chris Brown^[22]
• "No One", Alicia Keys^[69]
• "On The Floor", Jennifer Lopez^[16]
• "Only Girl (In the World)", Rihanna^[70]
• "Paparazzi", Lady Gaga^[71]
• "Paper Planes", M.I.A^[72]
• "Pocketful of Sunshine", Natasha Bedingfield^[73]
• "Raise Your Glass", Pink^[40]
• "Replay", Iyaz^[74]
• "Sexy Bitch", David Guetta featuring Akon^[75]
• "SexyBack", Justin Timberlake^[9]
• "Smack That", Akon featuring Eminem^[75]
• "Someone Like You", Adele ^[76]
• "Super Bass", Nicki Minaj^[77]
• "S&M", Rihanna^[78]
• "Take a Bow", Rihanna ^[79]
• "Telephone", Lady Gaga ft. Beyoncé^[80]
• "The Time (Dirty Bit)", The Black Eyed Peas^[57]
• "Umbrella", Rihanna featuring Jay-Z^[81]
• "We R Who We R", Kesha^[73]
• "Whatcha Say", Jason Derülo^[82]
• "Whatever You Like", T.I.^[83]
• "Womanizer", Britney Spears^[84]
• "You Belong with Me", Taylor Swift^[34]

Best-selling single by year

Here's a year-by-year look at the #1 best-selling songs of each of the past 20 years. From 1992 through 2004, the numbers are for physical singles. From 2005 on, they are for digital songs.

• 1992: "I Will Always Love You", Whitney Houston - 3,086,000^[85]
• 1993: "Whoomp! (There It Is)", Tag Team - 2,754,000^[85]
• 1994: "I'll Make Love To You", Boyz II Men - 1,627,000^[85]
• 1995: "Gangsta's Paradise", Coolio featuring L.V. - 2,534,000^[85]
• 1996: "Macarena (bayside boys mix)", Los Del Rio - 3,747,000^[85]
• 1997: "Candle In The Wind 1997", Elton John - 8,111,000^[85]
• 1998: "The Boy Is Mine", Brandy & Monica - 2,591,000^[85]
• 1999: "Believe", Cher - 1,707,000^[85]
• 2000: "Maria, Maria", Santana featuring The Product G&B - 1,337,000^[85]
• 2001: "Loverboy", Mariah Carey - 571,000^[85]
• 2002: "A Moment Like This", Kelly Clarkson - 600,000^[85]
• 2003: "This Is The Night", Clay Aiken - 948,000^[85]
• 2004: "I Believe", Fantasia - 401,000^[85]
• 2005: "Beverly Hills", Weezer - 962,000^[85]
• 2006: "Bad Day", Daniel Powter - 1,936,000^[85]
• 2007: "Crank That (Soulja Boy)", Soulja Boy Tell'em - 2,714,000^[85]
• 2008: "Bleeding Love", Leona Lewis - 3,420,000^[85]
• 2009: "Boom Boom Pow", The Black Eyed Peas - 4,762,000^[85]
• 2010: "California Gurls", Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg - 4,398,000^[85]
• 2011: "Rolling in the Deep", Adele - 5,813,000^[86]

Achievements

• Rihanna was named the Hot Digital Songs Artist of the 2000s decade ^[87]
• Lady Gaga is the only artist to top the 6 million mark with her first two singles - Just Dance and Poker Face.
• Katy Perry is the only artist to top the 4 million mark with six songs - Hot N Cold, California Gurls, I Kissed A Girl, Firework,Teenage Dream and E.T. which is more than any other artist in digital history. ^[88]
• Rihanna has seven songs top the 3 million marks, which is more than any other artist. She has a total of 11 #1 Hot 100 singles, putting her one single away from going toe-to-toe with Madonna's 12 #1-single career; and has amassed the fastest ascent to 20 top 10 singles in history.^[89]
• Rihanna, Ke$ha, and will.i.am have each had three 3-million-sellers. (will.i.am's total includes two Black Eyed Peas hits and his featured role on Usher's "OMG.")^[90]

See also

• RIAA certification
• Lists of best-selling albums

References

External links

• RIAA website
• Billboard Magazine - a magazine that publishes weekly music rankings