Who is the top selling female singer in history?

Answer 1

Madonna is the top selling female recording artist in the U.S., that is if we combine both her albums and singles sales.

But if you're going to break it down, in the album category, Madonna is second to Barbra Streisand with 64 x certified platinum status by RIAA.

Top- selling female artists in the USA :-
1)STREISAND, BARBRA 71x platinum
2)MADONNA 64
3)CAREY, MARIAH 62.5
4)HOUSTON, WHITNEY 55
5)DION, CELINE 50

Top selling artist in Europe (Mediatraffic):-

*1 (1963 -1970) Beatles - 92,500,000
*2 (1973 -1995) Queen - 80,050,000
*3 (1983 -2005) MADONNA - 74,600,000 [including Hard Candy]
*4 (1979 -2001) Michael Jackson - 70,200,000
*5 (1967 -1994) Pink Floyd - 69,900,000
*6 (1980- 2004) U2 - 59,300,000
*7 (1980 2004) Phil Collins - 55,200,000
*8 (1964 2005) Rolling Stones - 53,800,000
*9 (1969 2006) Elton John - 52,600,000
*10 (1973 1982) ABBA - 52,300,000

Artists claimed to have sold 250 million records (albums, singles, LPs, cassettes and etc) or more worldwide (without ranking Wikipedia):
ABBA Sweden 70s-80s Pop
Alla Pugacheva Russia 70s-00s Pop
The Beatles UK 60s-70s Rock / Pop
Bing Crosby U.S. 20s-70s Pop
Chubby Checker U.S. 60s-00s Pop / R&B
Cliff Richard UK 50s-00s Pop
Elton John UK 60s-00s Pop
Elvis Presley U.S. 50s-70s Rock / Pop
Frank Sinatra U.S. 30s-90s Pop
Julio Iglesias Spain 70s-00s Pop /Latin
Led Zeppelin UK 60s-80s Hard Metal
Madonna U.S. 80s-00s Pop /Dance
Michael Jackson U.S. 60s-00s Pop
Nana Mouskouri Greece 60s-00s Pop
Pink Floyd UK 60s-90s Rock
Queen UK 70s-00s Hard Rock
Rod Stewart UK 60s-00s Rock / Pop
Tino Rossi France 30s-80s Pop

Answer 2

GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS [2011]: Top-selling Female Recording Artist"Madonna (USA) holds the record for album sales up to December 2009 of 75 million in USA and 200 million abroad"- Guinness World Records [2011 Edition]

Answer 3

Nana Mouskouri (Greek: Νάνα Μούσχουρη, born Ioanna Mouskouri in Chania, Crete, Greece) is a Greek singer and politician. She was known as Nana to her friends and family as a child. She is the world's highest-selling female recording artist, having sold over 300 million albums in fifteen languages, including Greek, French, English, Spanish, Italian, German, Latin, and Portuguese, over 450 albums. She is France's number one selling artist. She is noted for her trademark black-rimmed eyeglasses and her songs of melancholy, longing, and sentimental musings upon love, for which the emotion of her voice is exceptionally suited. Mouskouri has recorded from the 1960s into the new millennium. She has tailored releases to specific international markets with tremendous success, having acquired more than 230 gold and platinum albums worldwide.

Mouskouri's family lived in Canée, Crete, where her father, Constantin, worked as a film projectionist in a local cinema. Her mother, Alice also worked in the same local cinema as an usherette. When Mouskouri was three, Constantin moved the family to Athens. Mouskouri's family worked extremely hard in order to send Nana and her elder sister, Jenny, to the prestigious Athens Conservatoire. Mouskouri had displayed exceptional musical talent from the age of 6. However her sister, Jenny, appeared to be more the more gifted of the two. In fact Mouskouri only had one 'working' vocal chord (rather than the normal two). This a rare condition gives her voice its particularly original timbre.