This is a list of the best-selling albums by year in the United States. Billboard magazine began publishing year-end lists for album sales in 1956. Until 1991, the Billboard album chart was based on a survey of representative retail outlets that determined a ranking, not a tally of actual sales. Weekly surveys and year-end charts by Billboard and other publications such as now defunct Cash Box magazine sometimes differed. For instance, during the 1960s and 1970s, the number-one album as determined by these two publications differed in 10 out of 20 years. From 1992 onwards, the Billboard year-end and weekly charts were calculated by Nielsen SoundScan. Note that this slightly differs from prior Billboard year-end album charts, which were a measure of chart performances over twelve months from around December to November (cutoff determined by Billboard´s publication schedule) rather than actual total sales.
Synopsis[edit]
Harry Belafonte's 1956 record entitled Calypso was the first product to be recognized as a top-selling album for a year once Billboard magazine started tracking sales figures. Adele's 2011 record 21 currently holds the title for the US's top-selling digital album. American Pop/R&Bsinger-songwriterMariah Carey, singer Whitney Houston, British glam rock performer Elton John, rapper Eminem, American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, and British singer/songwriter Adele each have had two of their albums be top sellers in two separate years in the US. Pop singer Michael Jackson's 1982 Thriller became the best-selling record in the country for two consecutive years in the 1980s (and later became the best-selling album of all time). Other albums to achieve the same accomplishment included the My Fair Lady Original Cast Recording from the hit 1956 Broadway production between 1957 and 1958, the original soundtrack of West Side Story between 1962-1963, and the album 21 by Adele between 2011-2012. That album, along with her follow-up 25 which was the best selling album of 2015, made Adele the only artist to have the top-selling album of at least three separate years.
1950s[edit]
Year[I] | Artist(s) | Nationality | Album | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1956 | Harry Belafonte | United States | Calypso | [1] |
1957 | Original Broadway Cast | – | My Fair Lady | [2] |
1958 | Original Broadway Cast | – | My Fair Lady | [3] |
1959 | Henry Mancini | United States | Music from Peter Gunn | [4] |
1960s[edit]
Year[I] | Performing artist(s) | Nationality | Album | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1960 | Original Broadway Cast | – | The Sound of Music | [5] |
1961 | Original Broadway Cast | – | Camelot | [6] |
1962 | Soundtrack | – | West Side Story | [7] |
1963 | Soundtrack | – | West Side Story | [8] |
1964 | Original Broadway Cast | – | Hello, Dolly! | [9] |
1965 | Soundtrack | – | Mary Poppins | [10] |
1966 | Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass | United States | Whipped Cream & Other Delights | [11] |
1967 | The Monkees | United States | More of The Monkees | [12] |
1968 | The Jimi Hendrix Experience | United States | Are You Experienced? | [13] |
1969 | Iron Butterfly | United States | In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida | [14] |
1970s[edit]
Year[I] | Performing artist(s) | Nationality | Album | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1970 | Simon and Garfunkel | United States | Bridge over Troubled Water | [15] |
1971 | Various Artists | – | Jesus Christ Superstar | [16] |
1972 | Neil Young | Canada | Harvest | [17] |
1973 | War | United States | The World Is a Ghetto | [18] |
1974 | Elton John | United Kingdom | Goodbye Yellow Brick Road | [19] |
1975 | Elton John | United Kingdom | Elton John's Greatest Hits | [20] |
1976 | Peter Frampton | UK/USA | Frampton Comes Alive | [21] |
1977 | Fleetwood Mac | UK/USA | Rumours | [22] |
1978 | Soundtrack/Bee Gees | – | Saturday Night Fever | [23] |
1979 | Billy Joel | United States | 52nd Street | [24] |
1980s[edit]
Year[I] | Performing artist(s) | Nationality | Album | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1980 | Pink Floyd | United Kingdom | The Wall | [25] |
1981 | REO Speedwagon | United States | Hi Infidelity | [26] |
1982 | Asia | United Kingdom | Asia | [27] |
1983 | Michael Jackson | United States | Thriller | [28] |
1984 | Michael Jackson | United States | Thriller | [29] |
1985 | Bruce Springsteen | United States | Born in the U.S.A. | [30] |
1986 | Whitney Houston | United States | Whitney Houston | [31] |
1987 | Bon Jovi | United States | Slippery When Wet | [32] |
1988 | George Michael | United Kingdom | Faith | [33] |
1989 | Bobby Brown | United States | Don't Be Cruel | [34] |
1990s[edit]
Year[I] | Performing artist(s) | Nationality | Album | Sales | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1990 | Janet Jackson | United States | Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 | [35] | |
1991 | Mariah Carey | United States | Mariah Carey | [36] | |
1992 | Billy Ray Cyrus | United States | Some Gave All | 4,700,000 | [37] |
1993 | Whitney Houston/soundtrack | – | The Bodyguard | 5,460,000 | [38] |
1994 | Elton John/soundtrack | – | The Lion King | 4,904,000 | [39] |
1995 | Hootie and the Blowfish | United States | Cracked Rear View | 7,020,000 | [40] |
1996 | Alanis Morissette | Canada | Jagged Little Pill | 7,380,000 | [41] |
1997 | Spice Girls | United Kingdom | Spice | 5,302,000 | [42] |
1998 | James Horner/ soundtrack | – | Titanic | 9,338,000 | [41] |
1999 | Backstreet Boys | United States | Millennium | 9,446,000 | [41] |
2000s[edit]
Year[I] | Performing artist(s) | Nationality | Album | Sales | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2000 | NSYNC | United States | No Strings Attached | 9,936,000 | [41] |
2001 | Linkin Park | United States | Hybrid Theory | 4,813,000 | [41] |
2002 | Eminem | United States | The Eminem Show | 7,608,000 | [43] |
2003 | 50 Cent | United States | Get Rich or Die Tryin' | 6,536,000 | [44] |
2004 | Usher | United States | Confessions | 7,979,000 | [45] |
2005 | Mariah Carey | United States | The Emancipation of Mimi | 4,968,606 | [46] |
2006 | Soundtrack | – | High School Musical | 3,719,000 | [47] |
2007 | Josh Groban | United States | Noël | 3,699,000 | [48] |
2008 | Lil Wayne | United States | Tha Carter III | 2,880,000 | [49] |
2009 | Taylor Swift | United States | Fearless | 3,217,000 | [50] |
2010s[edit]
Year[I] | Performing artist(s) | Nationality | Album | Sales | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2010 | Eminem | United States | Recovery | 3,415,000 | [51] |
2011 | Adele | United Kingdom | 21 | 5,824,000 | [52] |
2012 | Adele | United Kingdom | 21 | 4,410,000 | [53] |
2013 | Justin Timberlake | United States | The 20/20 Experience | 2,430,000 | [54] |
2014 | Taylor Swift | United States | 1989 | 3,661,000 | [55] |
2015 | Adele | United Kingdom | 25 | 8,008,000[†] | [56] |
2016 | Drake | Canada | Views | 4,140,000[†] | [57] |
2017 | Ed Sheeran | United Kingdom | ÷ | 2,764,000[†] | [58] |
2018 | Drake | Canada | Scorpion | 3,905,000[†] | [59] |
Notes[edit]
^[I] Each year is linked to the article about music that year.
Total Album Sales By Artist Save Mathews
- After Billboard began obtaining sales and airplay information from Nielsen SoundScan and Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems, the year-end charts are now calculated by a very straightforward cumulative total of yearlong sales points. This gives a more accurate picture of any given year's most popular titles, as an entry that hypothetically spent nine weeks at number one in March could possibly have earned fewer cumulative points than one spending six weeks at number three in January. Albums at the peak of their popularity at the time of the November/December chart-year cutoff many times end up ranked lower than expected on a year-end tally, yet are ranked on the following year's chart as well, as their cumulative points are split between the two chart years. Sometimes, the best-selling album of the year by Billboard is different than best-selling album of the year of Nielsen SoundScan, because Billboard calculates the year from December to November and Nielsen calculates the year from January to December.
- In this list, from 1956 to 1991, the Billboard year-end tracking was used. From 1992 to date, Nielsen SoundScan's year-end tracking was used.
- ^ † Beginning in 2015, the Billboard began using album-equivalent units in its methodology to determine the year's top album.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
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- ^[1]
External links[edit]
A record held by Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” for more than 30 years is no more. The Eagles’ Greatest Hits 1971-1975, a perennial seller since its initial release in Feb. 1976, has surpassed 38 million copies sold, according to the latest certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
The Eagles knocked Jackson’s 1982 smash to No. 2 but the band also holds the No. 3 spot with the album “Hotel California,” also released in 1976. That album has been certified 26-times platinum, for sales and streams of more than 26 million copies.
Said Cary Sherman, Chairman and CEO of the RIAA: “Congratulations to the Eagles, who now claim the jaw-dropping feat of writing and recording two of the top three albums in music history. Both of these transcendent albums have impressively stood the test of time, only gaining more currency and popularity as the years have passed, much like the Eagles themselves.”
The Eagles lost founding member Glenn Frey in January 2016 but continue to tour with Don Henley, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit making up the core of the group and Frey’s son Deacon Frey and Vince Gill joining.
The Eagles have sold more than 150 million albums and won six Grammys. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, in their first year of eligibility, and received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2016.
Related: