The Carpenters were a vocal and instrumental duo, consisting of siblings Karen and Richard Carpenter.
With their brand of melodic pop, they charted a record-breaking score of hit recordings on the American Top 40 and Adult Contemporary charts, becoming leading exponents of the soft rock or easy listening genre and ranking as the #1 Adult Contemporary recording act - with their record fifteen #1 songs - of the entire decade of the 1970s.
It has been estimated that the Carpenters' album and single sales total more than 100 million, easily putting them high on the list of best-selling music artists.