The following is an independently list of best-selling albums in Turkey. This list can contain any types of album, including studio albums, extended plays, greatest hits, compilations, various artists, soundtracks and remixes. The figures given do not take into account the resale of used albums or illegal copies (including in some external reports).

To ensure the highest level of fact checking, sales figures are supported by reliable sources, for example: international music-related magazines such as Music & Media and Billboard, national newspapers or Turkish music organizations like Mü-Yap, an IFPI member which represents the music industry in the country. Other sales figures were provided by MESAM (from Turkish: Türkiye Musiki Eseri Sahipleri Meslek Birliği and in English: Musical Work Owners' Society of Turkey), a copyright collective music organization established in 1986. According to British ethnomusicologist Martin Stokes, the first efforts to establish official figures by MESAM took place in 1990.[1]

Various albums sold more than 1 million in Turkey; while all records with the mark of half-million and above are by Turkish artists, few albums have gone on to sell more than a million copies since the 2000s according to Yeni Akit.[2] Meanwhile, Mü-Yap have awarded many domestic artists with a Diamond certification since the award inauguration in 2003, signifying certified units of 300,000. Although many of these albums reached slightly higher actual sales according to their yearly reports.

Numerous acts have several entries, with İbrahim Tatlıses, Tarkan and Sezen Aksu having the highest claims with at least one release reaching 3 million units across the nation. Furthermore, Tarkan is one of the few artists with a release with more than a million copies sold in the country in both 20th and 21st centuries. Additionally, his album Aacayipsin (1994) sold two million domestic copies, including 450,000 units in its first 10 days,[3] and further 750,000 copies in Europe—making a first-time-ever feat for a Turkish performer.[4] Allah Allah-Hülya (1987) by İbrahim Tatlıses became one of the fastest-selling albums to reach the million mark, in a lapse of one and a half month according to Milliyet.[5]

Best-selling albums

Legend
silver Studio albums
blue Extended plays
purple Greatest hits and compilations

More than 1 million

İbrahim Tatlıses is the best-selling artist in Turkey with 33 million copies sold of his records in the country.[6]
Tarkan has sold more than 14 million copies of his albums in Turkey alone.[6]
Year Artist Album Claimed sales Ref.
1985 İbrahim Tatlıses Mavi Mavi [tr] 3,200,000
3,100,000 		[7]
[6]
1998 Tarkan Ölürüm Sana 3,000,000
2,600,000 		[8][9]
[6]
1991 Sezen Aksu Gülümse 3,000,000
2,500,000 		[10]
[7]
1990 Coşkun Sabah Beni Unutma-Aşığım Sana [tr] 2,800,000
2,700,000 		[7]
[6]
1984 Orhan Gencebay Dil Yarası [tr] 2,700,000
2,600,000 		[7]
[6]
1999 Barış Manço Mançoloji [tr] 2,600,000 [11]
1998 Mahsun Kırmızıgül Yıkılmadım [tr] 2,600,000 [6]
1994 Tarkan Aacayipsin 2,000,000 [12][4]
2003 Tarkan Dudu 1,500,000 [13]
1994 Mahsun Kırmızıgül 12'den Vuracağım 1,240,000 [14]
1987 İbrahim Tatlıses Allah Allah-Hülya [tr] 1,000,000 [5]
2001 Hande Yener Sen Yoluna... Ben Yoluma... 1,000,000

Below 1 million (above 500,000)

Year Artist Album Claimed sales Ref.
1989 Sezen Aksu Sezen Aksu Söylüyor [tr] 845,000 [1]
1989 İbrahim Tatlıses İnsanlar 800,000 [1]
1989 İbrahim Tatlıses İbrahim Tatlıses Klasikleri [tr] 724,000 [14]
1992 Tarkan Yine Sensiz 700,000
600,000 		[15]
[3]
2006 İsmail YK Bombabomba.com [tr] 540,000 [16]

Best-selling albums by international artists

Ricky Martin has the best-selling album by an international soloist in Turkey with Vuelve (180,000 copies).
Madonna has at least two albums with sales of 100,000 copies and as well, one album certified by Mü-Yap.

According to Pan-European music trade magazine Music & Media, Vuelve by Ricky Martin became the best-selling album by an international soloist in Turkey, with 180,000 copies sold as of June 1998.[17] Other releases by international artists with major sales include Metallica and their self-titled album with 300,000 units,[18] while Madonna has at least two albums with over 100,000 copies sold in Turkey (including Like a Prayer).[1][5] She also set a record for a foreign album when MDNA moved 30,000 units in just 4 days for which outsold domestic artists at that time.[19]

Year Artist Album Claimed sales Ref.
1991 Metallica Metallica 300,000 [18]
1998 Ricky Martin Vuelve 180,000 [17]
1989 Madonna Like a Prayer 151,000 [1]
1986 Madonna True Blue 100,000 [5]

Foreign albums certified by Mü-Yap

Since their certification program established in 2003, at least 8 albums by foreign artists have obtained Platinum or Gold certification from Mü-Yap, the national music certifying body founded in 2000.

Rel. year Artist Album Certification Certified sales Year Ref.
2007 Dany Brillant Histoire d'un amour Gold 5,000 2008 [20]
Pink Martini Hey Eugene! Platinum 10,000
Shantel Disko Partizani [tr]
Norah Jones Not Too Late
Rel. year Artist Album Certification Certified sales Year Ref.
2008 Metallica Death Magnetic Gold 5,000 2009 [21]
Coldplay Viva la Vida
Madonna Hard Candy
2006 Amy Winehouse Back to Black

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Stokes, Martin (2010). "4". Why Cry? Sezen Aksu's Diva Citizenship (PDF — version). University of Chicago Press. p. 112. ISBN 978-0-2267-7506-7. The first efforts to establish official figures by MESAM [from Turkish: Türkiye Musiki Eseri Sahipleri Meslek Birliği] (a music industry organization established primarily to lobby for firmer copyright control) took place in 1990. Dilmener reproduces a list of sales from Boom that confirm the kinds of figures I would hear in Unkapanı in candid conversations with producers and small company owners. [...] By way of comparison, İbrahim Tatlıses' İnsanlar had sold 800,000 while Madonna's Like a Prayer had sold 151,000 (Dilmener 2003, p. 349). ((cite book)): |work= ignored (help); External link in |format= (help)
  2. ^ "Hande Yener kimdir?". Yeni Akit (in Turkish). Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  3. ^ a b Higgs, Adrian (June 18, 1994). "Global Music Pulse: Turkey". Billboard. Vol. 106, no. 25. p. 43. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
  4. ^ a b "CULTURE-TURKEY: Pop Star's Sexuality Sparks Debate On National Values". Inter Press Service. April 26, 2001. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d "Ekonomi Araştırma". Milliyet (in Turkish). September 17, 1987. p. 5. Archived from the original on February 26, 2021. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g "Türkiye'de en çok satan albümler". Sözcü (in Turkish). July 6, 2017. Archived from the original on July 6, 2017. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
  7. ^ a b c d "Türk pop tarihinin en çok satan 6 albümü". Hürriyet (in Turkish). July 3, 2017. Archived from the original on April 12, 2018. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
  8. ^ Kemal, Neriman; Kuo, Selina (2001). Turkey. Gareth Stevens. p. 45. ISBN 978-0836823417. Retrieved June 8, 2021. In 1997, he released his third album, Ölürüm Sana (I'm Crazy About You), which sold over 3 million copies in Turkey
  9. ^ "Tarkan ve Yılmaz Erdoğan gecesi" (in Turkish). NTV.com.tr. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
  10. ^ "Sezen Aksu 'Gülümse' şarkısı için izin almamış". T24 (in Turkish). December 17, 2009. Archived from the original on March 2, 2018. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
  11. ^ Sarı, Eren (18 July 2016). BARIŞ MANÇO. p. 38. En çok satan Albümü: Mart 1999'da piyasaya sürülen Mançoloji adlı albümü 2.6 milyon satılarak yılın en çok satılan albümü oldu.
  12. ^ Turkey: A Lonely Planet Travel Survival Kit. Lonely Planet. 2009. p. 60. Retrieved June 8, 2021 – via Google Books. His '94 album, A - acayipsin, sold over two million copies in Turkey
  13. ^ "Megastar Tarkan kardeşlerini ilk kez paylaştı – İşte Tarkan'ın kardeşleri". Hürriyet (in Turkish). January 1, 2020. Archived from the original on January 21, 2020. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  14. ^ a b Danielson, Virginia; Reynolds, Dwight; Marcus, Scott (2017). The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: The Middle East. Routledge. p. 501. ISBN 978-1351544177. Retrieved June 8, 2021. The Turkish ministry of culture provided revealing figures for 1995 (Gu ̈nyeli 1996:8). The highest-selling cassette by far was Mahsun Kıˇrmıˇzıˇgu ̈l's ́ ̇ [Mahsun Kırmızıgül] arabesk hit "Tam 12den ..." [12'den Vuracağım] (1,247,000 copies), followed by Ibrahim Tatlises's ara-besk "Klasikler" (724,000 copies). The highest-selling pop cassette was Kayahan's (661,000)
  15. ^ "Turkish pop star Tarkan holds wedding reception in Germany". Hürriyet Daily News. May 7, 2016. Archived from the original on July 13, 2018. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  16. ^ "Best-selling 2006" (in Turkish). Mü-Yap. 2006. Archived from the original on May 9, 2009. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
  17. ^ a b "Six Times Platinum in Turkey" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 15, no. 16. June 27, 1998. p. 4. Retrieved January 11, 2020 – via American Radio History.
  18. ^ a b Radikal (January 20, 2010). "Metalcilere 'dört büyük' müjde". Milliyet (in Turkish). Archived from the original on March 3, 2021. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
  19. ^ "Türkiye'de rekorları altüst etti". Habertürk (in Turkish). March 30, 2012. Archived from the original on April 1, 2012. Retrieved April 2, 2012.
  20. ^ "2008 MÜ-YAP MÜZİK ENDÜSTRİSİ ÖDÜLLERİ" (in Turkish). Mü-Yap. Archived from the original on November 9, 2011. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
  21. ^ "2009 MÜ-YAP MÜZİK ENDÜSTRİSİ ÖDÜLLERİ" (in Turkish). Mü-Yap. Archived from the original on February 5, 2012. Retrieved June 7, 2021.

External links

Lists of best-selling albums
Category