Interesting Numbers

Morning kids. Have you ever checked out the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) website? There's some interesting data available there. For example, I just found out that only 22 music groups/solo artists are in the "50 Mil" club -- meaning, have sold more than 50 million units in the U.S. (I'm sure the number goes up worldwide, but I didn't find that chart yet).

You can find the whole list of top U.S. artists here. Strange stuff, no? Nice to see my boys Pink Floyd and AC/DC representing in the Top 10, but I didn't realize they were both bigger sellers than the Rolling Stones at #11. Other highlights:

• U2 and Kenny Rogers have the exact same levels of consumer appeal. Take that, Bono!

• Why is Michael Jackson ever referred to by his self-appointed "King of Pop" title when Billy Joel and Elton John also sing pop and have sold more records than him?

• How is it that Garth Brooks outsells George Strait by a 2-to-1 margin, and how is he the #3 best-selling artist of all time? And why hasn't Johnny Cash outsold them both combined? What the hell is wrong with you mainstream country fans?

Also of note are groups that didn't make the chart at all, especially considering that the cut-off is 10.5 million albums. You're telling me there aren't at least 10.5 million Americans (in a country of nearly 290 million) who have bought at least one Ramones album in the past 30 years? Preposterous!