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List of best-selling singles in the United States

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This list compiles the best-selling singles in the United States, based on reported sales figures. Some of the singles have been certified by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In music, a single is a song considered commercially viable enough by the artist and record company to be released separately from an album, usually featured on an album as well. For more information, see single.

The RIAA certifies a record only if that record company pays for its official certification; some companies do not consider this an important distinction and will not request certifications unless pressed by its active, still saleable artists. A full and complete list of RIAA-certified recordings would be a very incomplete list of popular American music.
The RIAA only certifies a particular recording of a song. Remixes, live and other versions count as separate.
Prior to 1989, physical singles were awarded with a Gold certification for shipments of 1,000,000 units and a Platinum certification for shipments of 2,000,000 units. For certification dates since January 1, 1989, a Gold award represented shipments of 500,000 units and a Platinum award represented shipments of 1,000,000 units.
Since May 9, 2013, RIAA certifications for singles in the "digital" category include on-demand audio and/or video song streams in addition to downloads. The current formula since February 1, 2016 is 150 on-demand streams = 1 song download.
Physical sales figures backed by RIAA certifications may be inaccurate as physical singles can be "overcertified" (sell less copies than were shipped to stores) or "undercertified" (sell beyond their current certification level and not receive a new certification).

Physical singles

All of these physical singles have sold over four million copies according to either reliable third-party claims or RIAA multi-platinum certifications.

Song	Artist(s)	Release year	Claimed sales
(million)	No. of times Platinum	"White Christmas"	"Candle in the Wind 1997"	"We Are the World"	"Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer"	"Paper Doll"	"The Tennessee Waltz"	"Hound Dog" / "Don't Be Cruel"	"It's Now or Never"	"I Want to Hold Your Hand"	"That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine"	"The Ballad of the Green Berets"	"Dardanella"	"My Blue Heaven"	"I Will Always Love You"	"(Everything I Do) I Do It for You"	"Macarena"	"Le Freak"	"I Heard It Through the Grapevine"	"I'm a Believer"	"You Light Up My Life"	"Hey Jude"	"Whoomp! (There It Is)"
Bing Crosby	1941	12
Elton John	1997	8.84	11×
USA for Africa	1985	8	4×
Gene Autry	1949	7
The Mills Brothers	1943	6
Patti Page	1948	6
Elvis Presley	1956	5	4×
Elvis Presley	1960	5	1×
The Beatles	1963	5	Gold
Gene Autry	1935	5
Barry Sadler	1966	5
Ben Selvin	1919	5
Gene Austin	1928	5
Whitney Houston	1992	4.59	4×
Bryan Adams	1991	4.1	3×
Los del Río	1996	4Sales in the United States for Macarena:	4×
Chic	1978	4	1×
Marvin Gaye	1968	4
The Monkees	1966	4
Debby Boone	1977	4	1×
The Beatles	1968	4	4×
Tag Team	1993	4	4×

Digital singles

The below singles have sold at least 6 million digital copies as reported by Luminate (or previously Nielsen SoundScan). Sales figures are not fully represented by RIAA certifications, which have included on-demand streaming-equivalent units since May 2013. Thus the actual sales figures will be different from the amounts specified by the RIAA.

Song	Artist(s)	Release
year	Reported sales (million)	No. of times Platinum	"I Gotta Feeling"	"Rolling in the Deep"	"Radioactive"	"Uptown Funk"	"Party Rock Anthem"	"Somebody That I Used to Know"	"Cruise"	"Call Me Maybe"	"Poker Face"	"Lose Yourself"	"Firework"	"Just Dance"	"Don't Stop Believin"	"Just the Way You Are"	"Low"	"Happy"	"Boom Boom Pow"	"I'm Yours"	"We Are Young"	"Tik Tok"	"Need You Now"	"Moves like Jagger"	"Viva la Vida"	"Love the Way You Lie"	"Blurred Lines"	"Hey, Soul Sister"	"Roar"	"Sexy and I Know It"	"Party in the U.S.A."	"Dark Horse"	"Thrift Shop"	"Love Story"	"Sail"	"Grenade"	"Thinking Out Loud"	"All of Me"	"Fuck You / Forget You"	"Someone like You"	"Apologize"
The Black Eyed Peas	2009	8.7	15×
Adele	2010	8.4	8×
"Girlfriend"	Avril Lavigne	2007	7.0	7×
Imagine Dragons	2012	8.2	16×
Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars	2014	8.1	11×
LMFAO featuring Lauren Bennett and GoonRock	2011	8.1	10×
Gotye featuring Kimbra	2011	7.9	14×
Florida Georgia Line	2012	7.6	14×
Carly Rae Jepsen	2011	7.6	10×
Lady Gaga	2008	7.5	10×
Eminem	2002	7.4	13×
Katy Perry	2010	7.2	12×
Lady Gaga featuring Colby O'Donis	2008	7.2	11×
Journey	1981	7.0	18×
Bruno Mars	2010	7.0	13×
Flo Rida featuring T-Pain	2007	7.0	10×
Pharrell Williams	2013	6.9	11×
The Black Eyed Peas	2008	6.9	10×
Jason Mraz	2008	6.8	13×
fun. featuring Janelle Monáe	2011	6.8	10×
Kesha	2009	6.8	12×
Lady Antebellum	2009	6.7	12×
Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera	2011	6.7	10×
Coldplay	2008	6.6	5×
Eminem featuring Rihanna	2010	6.5	13×
Robin Thicke featuring T.I. and Pharrell Williams	2013	6.5	10×
Train	2009	6.4	11×
Katy Perry	2013	6.4	15×
LMFAO	2011	6.4	8×
Miley Cyrus	2009	6.3	15×
Katy Perry featuring Juicy J	2013	6.3	11×
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz	2013	6.2	10×
Taylor Swift	2008	6.2	8×
Awolnation	2010	6.1	10×
Bruno Mars	2010	6.1	10×
Ed Sheeran	2014	6.0	18×
John Legend	2013	6.0	14×
CeeLo Green	2010	6.0	7×
Adele	2011	6.0	5×
Timbaland featuring OneRepublic	2007	6.0	4×

Notes

References

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