4) Clay Aiken

Global Album Sales: 7 Million

Clay Aiken rose to fame in 2003 when he came second on the second season of American Idol. He was offered recording contract by RCA Records. His multi-platinum debut album Measure of a Man moved 613,000 copies in the first week, easily beating the 400,000 sales that the winner of the season Ruben Studdard managed with his debut Soulful. Today Aiken is a singer, songwriter, television personality, actor, author, politician and activist with an estimated net worth of $6 million.