The following is a list of best-selling singles by country. Depends on the measurement, record sales of songs are taken by estimations or certifications.
Sheet music dominated the early stage of music publishing industry with many individual titles selling millions of "copies". Before the start of the "album era" in the mid-1960s, the singles format dominated the recording industry in a number of countries, and once again during the ongoing streaming era in the early late-2000s.
Note that some of the data are incomplete due to a lack of available published data from a number of territories, unlike the United Kingdom and the United States with recognized national measurement firms such as Official Charts Company and Nielsen SoundScan respectively. Therefore, it is not an exhaustive list, so no rankings are given in certain cases.
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Cameroon
Canada
Chile
Colombia
Cuba
According to some estimates, "Miénteme" (1954) by Olga Guillot sold one million copies in Cuba, although figures lack of reliability. On Becoming Cuban (2008), author explained that by 1957, 3,000 records sold in Cuba was considered to be "commercially successfull". Around this time, Rock 'n' Roll record sales approached $200,000 annually.
Denmark
Ecuador
"Fatalidad" (1956 release, 1944 original recording) by Julio Jaramillo is according to some national newspapers, biggest Ecuatorian single, selling between 6,000 and 8,000 copies in its first-week.
Egypt
El Salvador
Finland
France
Germany
Ghana
Greece
India
Indonesia
Ireland
Italy
Jamaica
"Legalize It" is "one of Jamaica's top-selling singles".
Japan
Kenya
Lebanon
Luxembourg
Park Café sold 5,000 copies of a maxi-single recorded in 1986. Up to 1993, average sales records were between 1,000 to 2,000 units, according to local retailers and mechanical licensing reports from SACEM.
Malaysia
Malta
"Taxi Mary" by Fredu Abela (il-Bamboċċu) is considered to be Malta's highest selling record/single of all time. "Do They Know It's Christmas?" by Band Aid, sold "Hundreds of copies" in its first eight days.
Additional information: According to a 1968 report, about 60,000 records were sold annually in Malta up that point, with 70% covered by singles, and three quarters of the records were of American or British origins. The remainder were principally Italian.
Mexico
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nigeria
Top certified singles
Norway
Additional information: Until 1965, the average of copies sold of singles in Norway, with a population of 3.5 million, was between 1,500 and 2,000 copies. In comparison, "I Love You Because" of Jim Reeves sold up that point 100,000 copies, which was considered a "tremendous amount" and became the highest-selling record in the country.
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Russia
By September 2000, "Solo" by Alsou was considered to be the best-selling single ever in Russia. It sold at least 60,000 units in four weeks.