Best-selling female recording artist

Since 1983, Madonna (USA, b. Madonna Ciccone) has sold an estimated 335 million albums and singles (including digital tracks) worldwide. The "Material Girl"'s biggest-selling albums are The Immaculate Collection (1990; c. 28.2 million copies sold), True Blue (1986; c. 23 million) and Like a Virgin (1984; c. 21.4 million), while five of her singles are estimated to have registered sales in excess of 5 million units: "Like a Virgin" (1984), "4 Minutes" (2008), "Like a Prayer" (1989), "Vogue" (1990) and "Hung Up" (2005). Although precise sales figures are difficult to obtain and are often disputed, it is acknowledged that only The Beatles, Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson have conclusively sold more records worldwide than Madonna.

Figures published by Italy's "Nichu94" on UKMIX.org on 23 March 2015. These are the most recent sales figures available.

In the USA, Madonna has Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)-certified units of 64.5 million albums and 18.5 million singles, with 20 gold, 17 platinum and 12 multi-platinum album awards and 27 gold, 6 platinum and 2 multi-platinum singles awards. Her highest-certified albums are The Immaculate Collection and Like a Virgin (both 10x multi-platinum), while the singles "4 Minutes" and "Vogue" have both been certified 2x multi-platinum.