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 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 1991 onwards, the Billboard year-end and weekly charts were calculated by Nielsen SoundScan. Note that this slightly differs from the Billboard year-end album number one chart, which is a measure of chart performance over the twelve months from December to November (cutoff determined by Billboard´s publication schedule) rather than actual total sales per calendar year.
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&B singer-songwriter Mariah Carey, singer Whitney Houston, British glam rock performer Elton John, rapper Eminem, 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 1957–1958, the original soundtrack of West Side Story between 1962-1963, and the album 21 by Adele between 2011-2012.
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
British pop girl group
Spice Girls had the best-selling album of 1997.
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 |
4,832,000 |
[37] |
1993 |
Whitney Houston/soundtrack |
– |
The Bodyguard |
5,460,000 |
[38] |
1994 |
Elton John/soundtrack |
– |
The Lion King |
4,934,000 |
[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/Celine Dion/ soundtrack |
– |
Titanic |
9,338,000 |
[41] |
1999 |
Backstreet Boys |
United States |
Millennium |
9,446,000 |
[41] |
2000s
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 |
4,969,000 |
[39] |
2006 |
Soundtrack |
– |
High School Musical |
3,719,000 |
[46] |
2007 |
Josh Groban |
United States |
Noël |
3,699,000 |
[47] |
2008 |
Lil Wayne |
United States |
Tha Carter III |
2,874,000 |
[48] |
2009 |
Taylor Swift |
United States |
Fearless |
3,217,000 |
[49] |
2010s
Adele's
21 album was the best seller in 2011 and 2012 while her third studio album
25 was the best seller in 2015
Year[I] |
Performing artist(s) |
Nationality |
Album |
Sales |
Ref. |
2010 |
Eminem |
United States |
Recovery |
3,415,000 |
[50] |
2011 |
Adele |
United Kingdom |
21 |
5,824,000 |
[51] |
2012 |
Adele |
United Kingdom |
21 |
4,410,000 |
[52] |
2013 |
Justin Timberlake |
United States |
The 20/20 Experience |
2,430,000 |
[53] |
2014 |
Taylor Swift |
United States |
1989 |
3,661,000 |
[54] |
2015 |
Adele |
United Kingdom |
25 |
7,441,000 |
[55] |
Notes
^[I] Each year is linked to the article about music that year.
- 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. Interestingly, albums at the peak of their popularity at the time of the November/December chart-year cutoff many times end up ranked lower than one would expect 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.
See also
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References
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External links
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Albums |
Billboard 200 |
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R&B/Hip-Hop |
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Country |
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Latin |
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Religious |
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Other |
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International |
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Singles and tracks |
Hot 100 |
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Pop |
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Dance/Electronic |
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R&B/Hip-Hop |
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Rock |
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Country |
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Latin |
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Religious |
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Other |
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International |
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Lists of number-one
albums and singles |
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Lists of artists who
reached number one |
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See also |
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