[Vocabulary] "Top selling" v.s. "Best selling"

[cubezero3]

Hello, everyone.

I'd like to know whether my understanding as to the difference between "best selling" and "top selling" is correct.

This question arose when I was reading a sentence.

Here is the sentence:

Before "Pumped Up Kicks" became a top-selling single last year, Mark Foster's greatest his was the music to a TV commercial for Muscle Milk, a protein drink.

In my opinion a top-selling single is a best-selling single, a piece of music that, according to the sales figures from a franchise or other similar institutions, is most popular with buyers during a period of time. The reason that an indefinite article, instead of a definite one, is used here is there are more than one franchise selling the same record.

Am I right here?

Many thanks

Richard

 

[bhaisahab]

Hello, everyone.

I'd like to know whether my understanding as to the difference between "best selling" and "top selling" is correct.

This question arose when I was reading a sentence.

Here is the sentence:



In my opinion a top-selling single is a best-selling single, a piece of music that, according to the sales figures from a franchise or other similar institutions, is most popular with buyers during a period of time. The reason that an indefinite article, instead of a definite one, is used here is there are more than one franchise selling the same record.

Am I right here?

Many thanks

Richard

No. It became one of the top-selling singles in that period of time.

 

[BobSmith]

[AmE - not a teacher]

IMO, "top-selling" and "best-selling" in this context are interchangable.

FYI, when talking about top-selling items, especially music, it refers to the collection of all the sales across all record labels or record stores. The sales that "a top-selling single" refer to is the same set of sales that "the top-selling single" refer to. If you wanted to make a smaller distinction, you'd have to specify it: "The best selling single from Mompop Records this week is Onamonapia by the BangBangs." This single may or may not be the top-selling single (overall) for that week. It may or may not even be a top-selling single (overall) for that week.