Prince

Prince mastered over 27 instruments and released 39 studio albums, a volume that outperforms #5 Whitney Houston’s 7 LPs by a ratio of 5.5 to 1. His 1984 masterpiece Purple Rain sold over 25 million copies worldwide, earning an Academy Award and making it 300% more commercially successful than #7 Al Green’s best-selling album. With seven Grammy Awards and the 2016 Prince estate valued at $100 million, his financial legacy exceeds the average 1980s pop star; his 2,000-song vault, discovered after his death, contains 60% more unreleased material than the typical top-tier musician’s archive.