The Beatles went on to earn the most best-selling albums of the year, five times with With the Beatles (1963), Beatles for Sale (1964), Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), Abbey Road (1969) and 1 (2000).
Adele had the best-selling album four times, the most for a female artist with 21 (2011), 25 (2015, 2016) and 30 (2021).
ABBA had the best-selling album of the year three times with Greatest Hits (1976), Arrival (1977) and Super Trouper (1980).
Ed Sheeran has earned the best-selling album of the year twice with X (2014) and ÷ (2017).
Kylie Minogue had the best-selling album of 1988 with her debut album Kylie.
Madonna had the best-selling album of 1986 with True Blue.
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This is a list of the best-selling albums in the United Kingdom each year. The sales figures given are only within that year, but each album has sold more copies overall.

Best-selling albums by year

Year Album Artist Number sold Ref
1956 Carousel Original soundtrack
1957 The King and I
1958 My Fair Lady Broadway Cast recording
1959 South Pacific Original soundtrack
1960
1961 G.I. Blues Elvis Presley
1962 West Side Story Original soundtrack
1963 With the Beatles The Beatles
1964 Beatles for Sale
1965 The Sound of Music Original soundtrack
1966
1967 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band The Beatles 751,000
1968 The Sound of Music Original soundtrack
1969 Abbey Road The Beatles
1970 Bridge over Troubled Water Simon and Garfunkel
1971
1972 20 Dynamic Hits Various Artists
1973 Aladdin Sane David Bowie
1974 The Singles: 1969–1973 The Carpenters
1975 The Best of the Stylistics The Stylistics
1976 Greatest Hits ABBA
1977 Arrival
1978 Saturday Night Fever Original soundtrack
1979 Parallel Lines Blondie
1980 Super Trouper ABBA
1981 Kings of the Wild Frontier Adam and the Ants
1982 Love Songs Barbra Streisand
1983 Thriller Michael Jackson
1984 Can't Slow Down Lionel Richie
1985 Brothers in Arms Dire Straits
1986 True Blue Madonna
1987 Bad Michael Jackson
1988 Kylie Kylie Minogue
1989 Ten Good Reasons Jason Donovan
1990 ...But Seriously Phil Collins
1991 Stars Simply Red
1992
1993 Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell Meat Loaf
1994 Cross Road Bon Jovi
1995 Robson & Jerome Robson & Jerome 2,040,000 [1]
1996 Jagged Little Pill Alanis Morissette 1,627,000 [2]
1997 Be Here Now Oasis 1,740,000 [1]
1998 Talk on Corners The Corrs 1,676,439 [3]
1999 Come On Over Shania Twain 2,201,842
2000 1 The Beatles 1,850,101
2001 No Angel Dido 1,920,167
2002 Escapology Robbie Williams 1,410,931
2003 Life for Rent Dido 2,168,302 [4]
2004 Scissor Sisters Scissor Sisters 1,594,259 [3]
2005 Back to Bedlam James Blunt 2,367,758 [5]
2006 Eyes Open Snow Patrol 1,514,554 [3]
2007 Back to Black Amy Winehouse 1,883,897
2008 Rockferry Duffy 1,685,000 [6]
2009 I Dreamed a Dream Susan Boyle 1,632,732 [7]
2010 Progress Take That 1,841,148 [8]
2011 21 Adele 3,772,346 [9]
2012 Our Version of Events Emeli Sandé 1,393,000 [10]
2013 Midnight Memories One Direction 685,000 [11]
2014 x Ed Sheeran 1,689,000 [12]
2015 25 Adele 2,496,000 [13]
2016 753,000 [14]
2017 ÷ Ed Sheeran 2,700,000 [15]
2018 The Greatest Showman: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Original soundtrack 1,600,000 [16]
2019 Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent Lewis Capaldi 641,000 [17]
2020 456,000 [18]
2021 30 Adele 600,000 [19]
2022 Harry's House Harry Styles 460,000 [20]
2023 The Highlights The Weeknd 391,000 [21]

Best-selling albums by decade

Decade Album Artist(s) Number sold Ref
1950s South Pacific Original soundtrack
1960s Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band The Beatles
1970s Bridge over Troubled Water Simon & Garfunkel
1980s Brothers in Arms Dire Straits
1990s (What's the Story) Morning Glory? Oasis 3,000,000 [22]
2000s Back to Bedlam James Blunt 3,200,000 [23]
2010s 21 Adele 5,170,000 [24]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "The biggest selling album of every year since 1956 (see relevant year)". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 13 September 2016. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
  2. ^ "Looking back at Jagged Little Pill, which hit Number 1 20 years ago". officialcharts.com. Archived from the original on 1 September 2016. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  3. ^ a b c Sales: Music Week (Best selling albums 1998–2008), pub. 17 January 2009
  4. ^ Jones, Alan (12 December 2005). "Eminem and Now! 62 lead albums sales". Music Week. Intent Media. Archived from the original on 1 October 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  5. ^ Jones, Alan (15 September 2011). "From 21 to 3 million - Adele crunches the numbers". Music Week. Intent Media. Archived from the original on 27 April 2018. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  6. ^ Sexton, Paul (29 December 2008). "Take That, Alexandra Burke Rule UK charts". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Archived from the original on 14 April 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  7. ^ "2009: being Boyled". Music Week. Archived from the original on 27 June 2010. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
  8. ^ Official Charts Company. "Eminem/Rihanna & Take That scoop 2010 crowns". OfficialCharts.com. Archived from the original on 26 November 2011. Retrieved 3 January 2011.
  9. ^ Jones, Alan (25 December 2011). "Christmas Album Chart analysis: Buble dominates with 317k weekly sales". Music Week. Intent Media. Archived from the original on 25 July 2012. Retrieved 25 December 2011.
  10. ^ Lane, Dan (2 January 2012). "The Official Top 40 Biggest Selling Albums of 2012 revealed!". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 19 January 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
  11. ^ Lane, Dan (1 January 2014). "The Official Top 40 Biggest Selling Artist Albums of 2013!". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 18 February 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  12. ^ Moss, Liv (1 January 2015). "The Official Top 40 Biggest Selling Artist Albums of 2014". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 1 January 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  13. ^ Copsey, Rob (6 January 2016). "The Official Top 40 Biggest Albums of 2015 revealed". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 5 January 2016. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  14. ^ Copsey. "The Official Top 40 Biggest Albums of 2016 revealed". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 30 December 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
  15. ^ White, Jack (3 January 2018). "The Top 40 biggest albums of 2017 on the Official Chart". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 3 January 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  16. ^ White, Jack (3 January 2019). "The Official Top 40 biggest albums of 2018". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 3 January 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  17. ^ White, Jack (1 January 2020). "The Official Top 40 biggest albums of 2019". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 3 January 2019. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  18. ^ Sam Moore (4 January 2021). "Lewis Capaldi and The Weeknd among best-selling artists in the UK as streaming and physical music sales soar in 2020". NME.com. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  19. ^ Griffiths, George (4 January 2022). "The Official Top 40 biggest albums of 2021". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  20. ^ Smith, Carl (4 January 2023). "The Official Top 40 biggest albums of 2022". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  21. ^ Griffiths, George (3 January 2023). "The Official Top 40 Biggest Albums of 2023". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  22. ^ Myers, Justin (3 October 2018). "The chart impact and mega sales of Oasis' second album (What's the Story) Morning Glory". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  23. ^ Fullerton, Jamie (31 December 2009). "Will Young and James Blunt win biggest selling single and album of the noughties". NME. Archived from the original on 14 September 2018. Retrieved 31 December 2009.
  24. ^ Copsey, Rob (11 December 2019). "The UK's Official Top 100 biggest albums of the decade 2010 – 2019". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 11 December 2019. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
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