Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of best-selling album artists


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was   delete. Cirt (talk) 00:47, 5 February 2010 (UTC)

List of best-selling album artists

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It was suggested the article could be merged with List of best-selling music artists. Though some people and myself should think it should be deleted. The list contains questionable figures, and is mainly some of which are supported by unreliable sources. Mattg82 (talk) 23:04, 28 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Delete. This list cannot be saved.   JBsupreme  ( talk ) 23:10, 28 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Keep While the list may be seen as banal it is also the type of mind numbingly daft thing that many folk visit Wikipedia to find. It's hellishly difficult to maintain, but it adds more value than a simple category. However it does not necessarily reflect non English Language artists. There is work needed, but that does not remove its validity. The content is notable, and it appears well referenced (I have not followed the references), though the refs need some work. Fiddle Faddle (talk) 23:32, 28 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Lists-related deletion discussions.  —  Gongshow  Talk 23:50, 28 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Music-related deletion discussions.  —  Gongshow  Talk 23:51, 28 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Delete: This is a list that will need maintaining beyond today, what if someone gives it up, other editors would have to take over. Also fails to pass WP:NOTDIR. — Preceding unsigned comment added by MWOAP (talk • contribs)
 * But every article needs maintaining beyond today. How is that a rationale for deletion?  Lugnuts  (talk) 08:20, 29 January 2010 (UTC)
 * And it is not a directory, so where did that come from as an argument for deletion? Fiddle Faddle (talk) 08:44, 29 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Indeed! Keep Clearly notable list with defined inclusion criteria. It's not like one album is suddenly going to shift 50 million copies overnight and cause confussion...  Lugnuts  (talk) 19:02, 29 January 2010 (UTC)
 * You're kidding, right? This list is relying strongly on fanofmusic.free.fr as a source.  The introduction is written in the voice of first person.  The list is a DIRECTORY listing.  The figures are questionable.  The problems go on and on and on.  Even if they were fixed, you're still left with a directory listing.   JBsupreme  ( talk ) 20:12, 29 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I have skimmed down the references given. The majority of them are not the site you state. And using block capitals does not make a thing true. If it is a directory please state why with clarity and without shouting. Fiddle Faddle (talk) 22:43, 29 January 2010 (UTC)


 * It is an approriate topic for a standalone list. It does not fall foul of wp:not, having a well-defined topic with clear inclusion criteria ("music artists" that "have had record album sales"). As a form of almanac, it is natural that a list should be updated at least yearly. Sources for best selling record, I have no doubt, are less than hard to find. The nominator's reason, that some sources are unreliable, is wholly insufficient ground for deletion. Only a clear minority are debatable. My opinion is the content of this article, especially its sources, should be kept and merged with List of best-selling music artists. ¨¨ victor   falk  23:59, 29 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Comment. The term "most commercially successful" is open to interpretation and arguably runs afoul of WP:NPOV.  What is the defining characteristic of commercial success for these albums, and what is the cutoff point?   JBsupreme  ( talk ) 01:02, 30 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Delete: I only had to go over a few of the sources provided at that page to realize how hopeless the entire article is. Even if a group of editors dared to invest enough time in cleaning-up that page by replacing all unreliable sources with highly reliable ones, the figures of that article wouldn't look any different than that of "List of best-selling music artists" because news services almost never speak of album-sales only, they all speak of worldwide-sales (or US sales, or UK sales for example) even when they use the term albums instead of records. This source for example, states that Eminem has sold 80 million albums, they don't necessarily mean albums-sales only, they are simply stating Eminem's worldwide sales, including singles, videos. However, news services as well as music industry related associations do speak of album-sales respectively. For example, this source mentions the US sales for Hilary Duff's album Metamorphosis. And we already have an article here at wikipedia which states album-sales on individual bases, List of best-selling albums worldwide the sources of which I'm afraid to go over since sales figures are sensitive subject for me and something tells me that I may find number of inflated figures published by weakly reliable sources. --Harout72 (talk) 01:30, 30 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Delete. Many unreliable sources Bluesatellite (talk) 10:12, 30 January 2010 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.