Wikipedia
List of best-selling albums by year in the United States
This is a list of the best-selling albums by year in the United States, published by American music magazine Billboard since 1956 as year-end rankings of album sales. 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.
Taylor Swift holds the record for the most albums (six) to become the best-seller of the year.[1]
Harry Belafonte's Calypso (1956) was the first record to be recognized as a year's top-selling album by Billboard, when it started tracking sales figures. American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift is the first and only artist to have had six of their albums become best-selling records of their respective years. She accomplished it with Fearless (2009), 1989 (2014), Reputation (2017), Lover (2019), Folklore (2020), and Midnights (2022). 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
Harry Belafonte's Calypso was labeled the US's top-selling record of 1956.
| Year[I] | Artist(s) | Nationality | Album | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | Harry Belafonte | United States | Calypso | [2] |
| 1957 | Original Broadway Cast | – | My Fair Lady | [3] |
| 1958 | [4] | |||
| 1959 | Henry Mancini | United States | Music from Peter Gunn | [5] |
1960s
West Side Story's soundtrack was the best-selling album for two consecutive years.
| Year | Artist(s) | Nationality | Album | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | Original Broadway Cast | – | The Sound of Music | [6] |
| 1961 | Camelot | [7] | ||
| 1962 | Soundtrack | – | West Side Story | [8] |
| 1963 | [9] | |||
| 1964 | Original Broadway Cast | – | Hello, Dolly! | [10] |
| 1965 | Soundtrack | – | Mary Poppins | [11] |
| 1966 | Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass | United States | Whipped Cream & Other Delights | [12] |
| 1967 | The Monkees | United States | More of The Monkees | [13] |
| 1968 | The Jimi Hendrix Experience | United States | Are You Experienced? | [14] |
| 1969 | Iron Butterfly | United States | In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida | [15] |
1970s
Two of Elton John's albums each became the best-selling record in the 1970s.
| Year[I] | Performing artist(s) | Nationality | Album | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Simon and Garfunkel | United States | Bridge over Troubled Water | [16] |
| 1971 | Various Artists | – | Jesus Christ Superstar | [17] |
| 1972 | Neil Young | Canada | Harvest | [18] |
| 1973 | War | United States | The World Is a Ghetto | [19] |
| 1974 | Elton John | United Kingdom | Goodbye Yellow Brick Road | [20] |
| 1975 | Elton John's Greatest Hits | [21] | ||
| 1976 | Peter Frampton | United Kingdom / United States | Frampton Comes Alive | [22] |
| 1977 | Fleetwood Mac | United Kingdom / United States | Rumours | [23] |
| 1978 | Soundtrack / Bee Gees | – | Saturday Night Fever | [24] |
| 1979 | Billy Joel | United States | 52nd Street | [25] |
1980s
Michael Jackson's Thriller was the best-selling album for two years in a row.
| Year[I] | Performing artist(s) | Nationality | Album | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Pink Floyd | United Kingdom | The Wall | [26] |
| 1981 | REO Speedwagon | United States | Hi Infidelity | [27] |
| 1982 | Asia | United Kingdom | Asia | [28] |
| 1983 | Michael Jackson | United States | Thriller | [29] |
| 1984 | [30] | |||
| 1985 | Bruce Springsteen | United States | Born in the U.S.A. | [31] |
| 1986 | Whitney Houston | United States | Whitney Houston | [32] |
| 1987 | Bon Jovi | United States | Slippery When Wet | [33] |
| 1988 | George Michael | United Kingdom | Faith | [34] |
| 1989 | Bobby Brown | United States | Don't Be Cruel | [35] |
1990s
Whitney Houston had the best-selling albums of 1986 and 1993, with her self-titled debut studio album and the soundtrack of The Bodyguard, respectively.
| Year[I] | Performing artist(s) | Nationality | Album | Sales | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1990 | Janet Jackson | United States | Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 | NA[note 1] | [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
| 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
- Best-selling albums in the United States since Nielsen SoundScan tracking began
- Billboard Year-End
- List of best-selling albums
- List of best-selling albums in Argentina
- List of best-selling albums in Australia
- List of best-selling albums in Brazil
- List of best-selling albums in Canada
- List of best-selling albums in France
- List of best-selling albums in Germany
- List of best-selling albums in Japan
- List of best-selling albums in the Philippines
- List of best-selling albums in South Korea
- List of best-selling albums in Taiwan
- List of best-selling albums in the United Kingdom
References
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{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ Metrics 2.0 (January 4, 2007). "Metrics 2.0: Music 2006 – Digital Track Sales Rose 65%; Album Sales Fell 4.9%: Nielsen SoundScan". Metrics2.com. Retrieved November 9, 2013.
- ^ "2007 U.S. Music Purchases Exceed 1.4 Billion". Thomson Reuters. Reuters. January 3, 2008. Retrieved May 13, 2011.
- ^ "2008 U.S. Music Purchases Exceed 1.5 Billion; Growth in Overall Music Purchases Exceeds 10%". Business Wire. December 31, 2008. Retrieved November 9, 2013.
- ^ Caulfield, Keith (January 6, 2010). "Taylor Swift Edges Susan Boyle For 2009's Top Selling Album". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved May 13, 2011.
- ^ "The Nielsen Company & Billboard's 2010 Music Industry Report". Business Wire. Berkshire Hathaway. January 7, 2011. Retrieved May 13, 2011.
- ^ Grein, Paul (December 7, 2011). "Chart Watch Extra: The Year's Top Albums". Yahoo! Music. Nielsen Business Media. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
- ^ "Adele's '21' 2012's Best Selling Album; Gotye Has Top Song". Billboard. January 3, 2013. Retrieved January 3, 2013.
- ^ "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
- Official website for Billboard magazine