Taylor Swift holds the record for the most albums (five) to become the best-seller of the year.
[1]
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.
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. American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift is the first and only artist to have had five of their albums become best-selling records of their respective years. She accomplished it with Fearless , 1989 , Reputation , Lover , and Folklore in 2009, 2014, 2017, 2019, and 2020, respectively. American acts Mariah Carey , Whitney Houston , and Eminem , and British acts Elton John and Adele , have had two of their albums be the top-sellers in two separate years. American singer Michael Jackson 's 1982 Thriller became the best-selling record in the country for two consecutive years in the 1980s. 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 and 1963, and Adele's 21 between 2011 and 2012.
1950s
1960s
West Side Story 's soundtrack was the best-selling album for two consecutive years.
1970s
Two of
Elton John 's albums each became the best-selling record in the 1970s.
1980s
1990s
Year[I]
Performing artist(s)
Nationality
Album
Sales
Ref.
1990
Janet Jackson
United States
Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814
[36]
1991
Mariah Carey
United States
Mariah Carey [note 2]
[37]
Garth Brooks
United States
Ropin' the Wind [note 3]
4,000,000
[38]
1992
Billy Ray Cyrus
United States
Some Gave All
4,832,000
[39]
1993
Whitney Houston (Soundtrack)
–
The Bodyguard
5,460,000
[40]
1994
Elton John (Soundtrack)
–
The Lion King
4,934,000
[41]
1995
Hootie & the Blowfish
United States
Cracked Rear View
7,020,000
[42] [43]
1996
Alanis Morissette
Canada
Jagged Little Pill
7,380,000
[44]
1997
Spice Girls
United Kingdom
Spice
5,302,000
[45]
1998
James Horner / Soundtrack
–
Titanic
9,338,000
[44]
1999
Backstreet Boys
United States
Millennium
9,445,732[44]
[46]
2000s
Eminem is the only rapper to have achieved the best-seller of the year twice;
The Eminem Show and
Recovery were the best selling albums of 2002 and 2010, respectively.
Year[I]
Performing artist(s)
Nationality
Album
Sales
Ref.
2000
NSYNC
United States
No Strings Attached
9,936,000
[44]
2001
Linkin Park
United States
Hybrid Theory
4,813,000
[44]
2002
Eminem
United States
The Eminem Show
7,608,000
[47]
2003
50 Cent
United States
Get Rich or Die Tryin'
6,536,000
[48]
2004
Usher
United States
Confessions
7,979,000
[49]
2005
Mariah Carey
United States
The Emancipation of Mimi
4,969,000
[50]
2006
Various artists
–
High School Musical
3,719,000
[51]
2007
Josh Groban
United States
Noël
3,699,000
[52]
2008
Lil Wayne
United States
Tha Carter III
2,874,000
[53]
2009
Taylor Swift
United States
Fearless
3,217,000
[54]
2010s
Adele 's
21 ,
25 , and
30 were the best selling albums of 2011-2012, 2015-2016 and 2021, respectively. She tied Swift as the only artists to have had the top selling album five times.
Year[I]
Performing artist(s)
Nationality
Album
Sales
Ref.
2010
Eminem
United States
Recovery
3,415,000
[55]
2011
Adele
United Kingdom
21
5,824,000
[56]
2012
4,410,000
[57]
2013
Justin Timberlake
United States
The 20/20 Experience
2,430,000
[58]
2014
Taylor Swift
United States
1989
3,661,000
[59]
2015
Adele
United Kingdom
25
7,441,000
[60]
2016
1,731,000
[61]
2017
Taylor Swift
United States
Reputation
1,903,000
[62]
2018
Various artists
N/A
The Greatest Showman
1,491,000
[63]
2019
Taylor Swift
United States
Lover
1,085,000
[64]
2020s
Notes
^ Annual album sales data have been revealed by Billboard since after 1992.
^ Mariah Carey was the best selling album of 1991 according to a 2019 article by The Independent .
^ Ropin' the Wind was the best selling album of 1991 according to a 1992 article by the Los Angeles Times .
^[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. 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.
Since 2015, Billboard and MRC Data (formerly Nielsen SoundScan) used album-equivalent units to determine the year's top albums, thus there is a discrepancy between the best-selling album (based on pure sales) and the best-performing album (based on sales+streaming). For information regarding the best-selling albums in the MRC Data era (from 1991 to present), see List of best-selling albums in the United States of the Nielsen SoundScan era .
See also
References
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^ D'Angelo, Joe (January 3, 2003). "Eminem Sold Most Albums, Nickelback Ruled Radio In '02" . MTV . Viacom. Retrieved August 8, 2009 .
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^ "More music purchases in 2004: Nielsen SoundScan". CBC News . Canadian Broadcasting Corporation . January 6, 2005.
^ Grein, Paul (December 5, 2007). "Week of Dec. 3, 2007: Will Josh Groban's Noel Be SoundScan's No. 1 Album of 2007? Is Santa Jolly?" . Yahoo! . Yahoo! Inc. Archived from the original on September 7, 2008. Retrieved June 2, 2018 . {{cite web }}
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^ "Justin Timberlake's '20/20' 2013's Best Selling Album, 'Blurred Lines' Top Song" . Billboard. Retrieved February 4, 2014 .
^ "Taylor Swift's '1989' Beats 'Frozen' As Top Selling Album of 2014" . Billboard. Retrieved December 31, 2014 .
^ Caulfield, Keith (January 5, 2016). "Adele's '25' Rules as Nielsen Music's Top Album of 2015 in U.S." Billboard . Retrieved January 6, 2016 .
^ Caulfield, Keith (January 5, 2017). "Drake's 'Views' Is Nielsen Music's Top Album of 2016 in the U.S." Billboard . Retrieved January 6, 2017 .
^ Caulfield, Keith (January 3, 2018). "Ed Sheeran's 'Divide' Is Music's Top Album of 2017 in U.S." billboard.com . Billboard Magazine. Retrieved December 9, 2020 .
^ "Drake's 'Scorpion' is Nielsen Music's Top Album of 2018 in U.S., 'God's Plan' Most-Streamed Song" . Billboard .
^ Caulfield, Keith (January 9, 2020). " 'Hollywood's Bleeding' Is Nielsen Music/MRC Data's Top Album of 2019, 'Old Town Road' Most-Streamed Song" . Billboard . Retrieved June 29, 2020 .
^ Caulfield, Keith (January 6, 2022). "Dua Lipa's 'Levitating' Is Most-Streamed Song of 2021 In U.S., Morgan Wallen's 'Dangerous: The Double Album' Is MRC Data's Top Album" . Billboard . Retrieved January 6, 2022 .
External links
Albums
Singles and tracks
Hot 100 Pop Dance/Electronic R&B/Hip-Hop Rock Country Latin Religious Other International
Lists of number-one albums and singles Lists of artists who reached number one See also