The 1980s produced many great artists. That isn't breaking news. But the decade also saw musical artists find audiences more consistently worldwide than other artists in other decades. Sure, there were a handful of musicians who were hugely successful on other decades, but the amount of ones from the 1980s is astonishing.
The list that follows is based on record sales put together by ChartMasters.org. I did cross-reference most of what Chart Masters had with Billboard charts and other sites. While it is nearly impossible to put an exact number of record sales worldwide, Chart Masters does a good job of at least trying to confirm the numbers.
Outside the top three best-selling artists that follow, the top ten is rounded out by numbers four through 10: US, Queen, Prince, AC/DC, Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, and George Michael and Wham! Of note, so far in the 2020s, the best-selling artist is BTS which has almost more than doubled second-place Taylor Swift.
Three best-selling musical artists of the 1980s
No. 3 of the 1980s - Phil Collins (119,105,000)
This is the one that might shock you a bit. Not that Collins isn't popular, of course, but popular enough to have the third-most record sales from the 1980s. That seems insane. More insane is that Collins released only four studio albums in the 1980s and each one did fantastically well. This was not a dud among the group.
Two of the albums - 1985's No Jacket Required and 1989's ...But Seriously - were worldwide number ones. His decade started with 1981's Face Value which sold more than 5 million copies in the United States and almost 2 million in the UK. Of course, Face Value was helped by one of the best-known songs from the 1980s, "In the Air Tonight." But Face Value may also be my favorite Collins album of the decade as there are other stellar tracks such as "I Missed Again" and "The Roof is Leaking."
No Jacket Required sold more than 12 million in the U.S. and nearly 2 million in the UK. And ...But Seriously sold nearly 3 million in the UK and more than 4 million in the U.S. Hello, I Must Be Going did weakly, though. It only sold 3 million in the U.S. (Clearly, I am joking. Selling 3 million copies of any album is ridiculously good.)
No. 2 of the 1980s - Madonna (131,613,000)
Madonna, like Phil Collins, also released four albums in the 1980s. But unlike Collins who was well-known before he went solo after spending a number of years with the band Genesis, Madonna basically came out of nowhere. She had an extremely unique style that seemed to evolve with every successive album. She could go from pure pop to dance house diva.
Upon initial release, Madonna's self-titled debut sold modestly well. But her record company, Warner Bros., let the record stew for a bit. While I have issues with Warner Bros. based on how they treated artists such as Prince and George Michael, the way they treated Madonna's debut record was extremely wise. The album put out five singles but over a longish amount of time - "Everybody" was released on October 6th, 1982 and the fifth single, "Borderline" wasn't released until February 15th, 1984.
Later in 1984, Madonna released her second album, Like a Virgin, which because of the slow boil of the first album caused Like a Virgin to explode. The album sold 10 million copies in the U.S. alone. Iconic tracks "Like a Virgin" and "Material Girl" were on the record so Madonna proved she wasn't just style; She had substance as well.
Madonna finished the decade by releasing True Blue in 1986 and Like a Prayer in 1989. Both are the albums sold at least 5 million copies in the U.S., while True Blue sold at least a million copies in France, Canada, Italy and the UK.
No. 1 of the 1980s - Michael Jackson (181,681,000)
Michael Jackson trounced the competition in the 1980s. People can think whatever they want about the controversies that came to surround Jackson well after the 1980s, but during the decade he was successful to the point that few others have ever experienced. Leading into the decade, Jackson released 1979's Off the Wall which did very well (its sales would increase after the massive success of Jackson's first album of the 1980s), plus Jackson has released five studio albums in the 1970s.
But Michael Jackson's first album of the 1980s changed music. Thriller was released on November 30th, 1982 and produced seven singles. In fact, only two tracks on the record weren't released as singles. Thriller sold 70 million albums worldwide, including 34 million in the United States alone. The album sold almost 5 million in the UK. While Jackson was already popular, his personality and lifestyle seemed to change from the weight of the success of Thriller.
Jackson only released one other studio LP in the 1980s. The second was Bad which came out on August 31st, 1987. While Bad did not have the success that Thriller did - honestly, what could have? - Bad still sold 35 million copies worldwide. The album produced nine singles, including "Dirty Diana," "Man in the Mirror," and "Smooth Criminal."
Along with all the extended singles from Thriller and Bad, Jackson sold more albums in the 1980s than any other artist in any other decade, other than the Beatles in the 1960s. Jackson was also hugely successful on the 1990s as he sold 78,755,000 more records, but he would never come close to reaching his level of success in the 1980s.