Guinness Record: Tupac Is the Best-Selling Rapper in the USA

In the fall of 2001, Guinness World Records added Tupac to its list of records. The entry “Best-selling artist of rap in the USA” bears the date October 25, 2001. With this, Guinness confirmed what the sales figures had already shown in the summer: no rapper had sold more records in the USA. The report from June 14 recounts how Until the End of Time brought him to the top according to RIAA figures.

Only for the USA

Guinness explicitly limits the record to the United States because no reliable worldwide figures are available. The entry accessible today cites 36 million certified albums in the USA and highlights that Tupac had more hits after his death than during his lifetime: three number-one albums in the USA and 16 singles on the R&B charts. Because the text also mentions Better Dayz, which was not released until 2002, it was updated after 2001. The figure of 36 million therefore does not necessarily originate from the year of his inclusion. How sales developed later is shown on the page on sales figures and certifications.