In 2000, Guinness credited Madonna as the most successful female recording artist of all time, with estimated worldwide sales of 120 million albums. Madonna is the highest earning female singer of all time, according to the 2007 Guinness Book of Records.

Van Halen's standard concert contract called for them to be provided with a bowl of M&Ms backstage, but with provision that all the brown candies must be removed. The presence of even a single brown M&M in that bowl, was sufficient legal cause for Van Halen to peremptorily cancel a scheduled appearance without advance notice. The legendary "no brown M&Ms" contract clause was indeed real, but the purported motivation for it was not. The M&Ms provision was included in Van Halen's contracts not as an act of caprice, but because it served a practical purpose: to provide an easy way of determining whether the technical specifications of the contract had been thoroughly read (and complied with).

Britney Spears has sold over seventy-six million records worldwide according to TIME magazine. Having sold over 31 million albums in the US, Britney Spears ranks as the eighth best-selling female artist in American music history. At the age of 11, Britney Spears starred in the 1993–94 seasons of The New Mickey Mouse Club. Other performers on the The New Mickey Mouse Club included Justin Timberlake, and Joshua Chasez whom later became members of the pop group 'N Sync, Keri Russell, fellow pop singer Christina Aguilera, and actor Ryan Gosling.

In 1938, when Elvis Presley was three years old, his father was convicted of forgery. Vernon Presley, Gladys's (Elvis' mother's) brother Travis Smith, and Luther Gable went to prison for altering a check from Orville Bean, Vernon's boss, from $3 to $8 and then cashing it at a local bank. Vernon was sentenced to three years at Mississippi State Penitentiary. Though Vernon was released after serving eight months, this event deeply influenced the life of the young family. During her husband's absence, Gladys lost the house and was forced to move in briefly with her in-laws next door. The Presley family lived just above the poverty line during their years in East Tupelo.

Janis Joplin, Jim Morrrison, Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Kobain all died at the age of 27. Other famed musicians who died at age 27 include Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, country singer Hank Williams, and Blues pioneer Robert Johnson.