Endlessly Performed: 5 of the Most Recorded Composers in Music History

If they were still alive, these five classical composers would put up stiff competition against today’s contemporary songsters.

Russian director Dmitri Liss directs musicians of the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestre Philharmonique de l'Oural) on Jan. 31, 2018 in Nantes, western France. LOIC VENANCE/AFP/Getty Images

Anyone who searches the internet with the question, “Is classical music dying?,” will encounter hundreds of articles and blogs that take a position on this question.

What most of these people really mean is that classical music isn’t popular, relatively speaking. For example, while the cellist Yo-Yo Ma has sold over 2 million albums worldwide and by most standards, is wildly successful as one of the biggest names in classical music today, his sales still pale in comparison to chart-topping pop stars of the past like Michael Jackson or Madonna.