List of best-selling singles in the United States
This is a list of best-selling singles in the United States, some of which have been certified by the Recording Industry Association of America. 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" or "undercertified".
Physical singles
| Song | Artist | Release year | Claimed sales | No. of times Platinum |
| "White Christmas" | Bing Crosby | 1941 | 25 | |
| "Candle in the Wind 1997" | Elton John | 1997 | 8.84 | 11× |
| "We Are the World" | USA for Africa | 1985 | 8 | 4× |
| "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" | Gene Autry | 1949 | 7 | |
| "Paper Doll" | Mills Brothers | 1943 | 6 | |
| "The Tennessee Waltz" | Patti Page | 1948 | 6 | |
| "Hound Dog" / "Don't Be Cruel" | Elvis Presley | 1956 | 5 | 4× |
| "That Silver-Haired Daddy Of Mine" | Gene Autry | 1935 | 5 | |
| "Ballad of the Green Berets" | Barry Sadler | 1966 | 5 | |
| "Dardanella" | Ben Selvin | 1919 | 5 | |
| "My Blue Heaven" | Gene Austin | 1928 | 5 | |
| "I Will Always Love You" | Whitney Houston | 1992 | 4.6 | 4× |
| "Macarena" | Los del Río | 1996 | 4.3 | 4× |
| " I Do It for You" | Bryan Adams | 1991 | 4.1 | 3× |
| "Le Freak" | Chic | 1978 | 4 | 1× |
| "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" | Marvin Gaye | 1968 | 4 | |
| "I'm a Believer" | the Monkees | 1966 | 4 | |
| "You Light Up My Life" | Debby Boone | 1977 | 4 | |
| "Hey Jude" | The Beatles | 1968 | 4 | 4× |
| "Whoomp! " | Tag Team | 1993 | 4 | 4× |
Digital singles
All of these digital singles been certified at least 6× platinum by the RIAA or have sold more than 6 million copies. Digital singles are listed according to certifications first, and then according to actual sales figures. Since May 2013, RIAA certification for digital singles include downloads and on-demand streaming. Thus the actual sales figures will be different from the amounts specified by the RIAA.11× Platinum or higher
Diamond certification
9× Platinum
8× Platinum
7× Platinum
6× Platinum or more than 6 million in sales
| Song | Artist | Release year | Number of times Platinum | Actual sales |
| "All I Want For Christmas Is You" | Mariah Carey | 1994 | 6× | 3.5 |
| "Single Ladies " | Beyonce | 2009 | 6× | 6.4 |
| "Sail" | Awolnation | 2010 | 6× | 6.1 |
| "Don't Let Me Down" | The Chainsmokers featuring Daya | 2016 | 6× | 6.0 |
| "Right Round" | Flo Rida featuring Kesha | 2009 | 6× | 5.6 |
| "Give Me Everything" | Pitbull featuring Afrojack, Nayer and Ne-Yo | 2011 | 6× | 4.9 |
| "Chicken Fried" | Zac Brown Band | 2008 | 6× | 4.9 |
| "Thriller" | Michael Jackson | 1984 | 6× | 6 |
| "Disturbia" | Rihanna | 2008 | 6× | 4.8 |
| "Timber" | Pitbull featuring Kesha | 2013 | 6× | 6.0 |
| "I Kissed a Girl" | Katy Perry | 2008 | 6× | 4.7 |
| "One More Night" | Maroon 5 | 2012 | 6× | 4.6 |
| "I Won't Give Up" | Jason Mraz | 2012 | 6× | 4.5 |
| "Starships" | Nicki Minaj | 2012 | 6× | 4.5 |
| "Born This Way" | Lady Gaga | 2011 | 6× | 4.3 |
| "Umbrella" | Rihanna featuring Jay-Z | 2007 | 6× | 4.5 |
| "Can't Hold Us" | Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Ray Dalton | 2013 | 6× | 4.3 |
| "Take Me to Church" | Hozier | 2013 | 6× | 4.3 |
| "Wake Me Up!" | Avicii | 2013 | 6× | 4.1 |
| "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" | Taylor Swift | 2012 | 6× | 4.1 |
| "Say Something" | A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera | 2013 | 6× | 4.0 |
| "Let Her Go" | Passenger | 2012 | 6× | 4.0 |
| "Airplanes" | B.o.B featuring Hayley Williams | 2010 | 6× | 4.0 |
| "Down" | Jay Sean featuring Lil Wayne | 2009 | 6× | 4.0 |
| "Heartless" | Kanye West | 2008 | 6× | 4.0 |
| "The Monster" | Eminem featuring Rihanna | 2013 | 6× | 3.8 |
| "Last Friday Night " | Katy Perry | 2011 | 6× | 3.8 |
| "Pumped Up Kicks" | Foster the People | 2010 | 6× | 3.8 |
| "Forever" | Drake, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, and Eminem | 2009 | 6× | 3.7 |
| "Problem" | Ariana Grande | 2014 | 6× | 3.7 |
| "Country Girl " | Luke Bryan | 2011 | 6× | 3.7 |
| "Only Girl " | Rihanna | 2010 | 6× | 3.6 |
| "Turn Down for What" | DJ Snake and Lil John | 2014 | 6× | 3.5 |
| "Diamonds" | Rihanna | 2012 | 6× | 3.5 |
| "Bang Bang" | Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj | 2014 | 6× | 3.4 |
| "Pompeii | Bastille | 2013 | 6× | 3.4 |
| "The Lazy Song" | Bruno Mars | 2011 | 6× | 3.3 |
| "Bad Blood" | Taylor Swift featuring Kendrick Lamar | 2015 | 6× | 3.2 |
| "Boyfriend" | Justin Bieber | 2012 | 6× | 3.2 |
| "Niggas in Paris" | Jay-Z and Kanye West | 2011 | 6× | 3.0 |
| "My House" | Flo Rida | 2015 | 6× | 2.7 |
| "Hold On, We're Going Home" | Drake featuring Majid Jordan | 2013 | 6× | 2.7 |
| "7 Years" | Lukas Graham | 2015 | 6× | 2.1 |
| "Earned It" | The Weeknd | 2014 | 6× | 2.1 |
| "Body Like a Back Road" | Sam Hunt | 2017 | 6× | 2.0 |
| "Tennessee Whiskey" | Chris Stapleton | 2015 | 6× | 1.9 |
| "Work" | Rihanna | 2016 | 6× | 1.8 |
| "What Do You Mean?" | Justin Bieber | 2015 | 6× | 1.6 |
| Black Beatles | Rae Sremmurd featuring Gucci Mane | 2016 | 6× | 1.2 |
| "Unforgettable" | French Montana featuring Swae Lee | 2017 | 6× | — |
| "Young Dumb & Broke" | Khalid | 2017 | 6× | — |
| "Watch Me " | Silentó | 2015 | 6× | — |
| "I'm Not the Only One" | Sam Smith | 2014 | 6× | — |
| "My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark " | Fall Out Boy | 2013 | 6× | — |
| "Black and Yellow" | Wiz Khalifa | 2010 | 6× | — |
| "Boom Boom Pow" | The Black Eyed Peas | 2008 | 5× | 6.9 |
| "Someone Like You" | Adele | 2011 | 5× | 6.0 |
| "Apologize" | Timbaland featuring OneRepublic | 2007 | 4× | 6.0 |
| "Viva la Vida" | Coldplay | 2008 | 3× | 6.1 |
Achievements
- Rihanna is currently RIAA's top awarded singles artist and became the first artist to cross 100 million cumulative singles sales in 2015. She held the title as the only artist with over 100 million cumulative singles sales from July 2015 until June 2017 when Taylor Swift crossed the mark as well.
- After his sudden death, Michael Jackson became the first artist in digital history to sell one million downloads in a week, with a record-breaking 2.6 million downloads of his songs.
- Katy Perry is the only artist to top the 5 million mark with six songs—"Hot n Cold", "California Gurls", "Firework", "E.T.", "Roar" and "Dark Horse". In October 2015, Perry also became the first artist to top the 6 million mark with three different songs.
- Lady Gaga's debut single "Just Dance" is the best-selling debut single by any artist in the United States, with over 7.2 million copies sold as of February 2018. Gaga is also the first artist to pass 7 million downloads with two songs, with "Just Dance" and "Poker Face".
- Eminem, Katy Perry, and Ed Sheeran are the only artists to achieve three songs with a diamond certification, Eminem with his songs "Lose Yourself", "Love the Way You Lie", and "Not Afraid", Katy Perry with her songs "Dark Horse", "Firework", and "Roar", and Ed Sheeran with his songs "Thinking Out Loud", "Shape of You", and "Perfect".