there was a link on another thread after this Q was asked which gave a site which showed the apparent alltime sales of bands list...all bands and singers not just rock.
I the rock list will be
Eagles
Aerosmith
Kiss
Metallica
Bon Jovi
GnR
Van Halen
Led Zepailn
Nirvana
Pearl Jam
ACDC
ZZ Top
Def Leopard
Dire Straits
U2
Pink Floyd
Queen
Its all subjective but seeing many on that list, surely the stones can be considered a rock band, and theres not many artists in any genre that have sold more records than them, and ditto the who.
The Beatles
Queen
Led Zeppelin
AC/DC
Aerosmith
The Beach Boys
Bon Jovi
Eagles
Fleetwood Mac
Genesis
Pink Floyd
The Rolling Stones
Status Quo
U2
The Who
KISS
Metallica
R.E.M.
Santana
The Ventures
Guns'n'Roses
...after that it's difficult to tell.
The source used here is Wikipedia. I've assumed it's worldwide; also, it's difficult to rank beyond stating that the Beatles are #1and the two mentioned below them are the remainder of the top 3.
Am I the only one who doesn't know who The Ventures are? and who finds it hard to believe that they outsold Deep Purple, or Def Leppard, or many others I could think of...!
The Ventures were a 1960s instrumental band (mostly guitars) who had several massive hits such as 'Perfidia', 'Walk Don't Run' 'Telstar' and as ummmm says, later Hawaii five O'. Can't imagine though that they would make any top 25.