James Blunt's debut album Back to Bedlam was the best-selling album of the 2000s in the United Kingdom, shipping nearly 3.2 million copies.
2000s in music in the UK
Events
Charts

The UK Albums Chart is a music chart compiled by the Official Charts Company that calculates the best-selling albums of the week in the United Kingdom.[1] Since 2005, it has been based on the sales of both physical and digital albums, on the condition that the album was available in both formats. In 2007, the rules were changed so that legal downloads of all albums, irrespective of whether a physical copy was available, were eligible to chart.[2]

Between 2000 and 2009, more than 100 albums sold more than 1 million copies in the United Kingdom. At the end of the decade, a retrospective chart was compiled by the Official Charts Company to determine the best-selling artist album of this ten-year period. The title was won by James Blunt, with his debut album Back to Bedlam, released in 2004.[3] The album sold 3.19 million copies, finishing ahead of Dido's album No Angel, which sold 3.05 million copies.[4] Dido featured twice in the top 10 best-sellers, with Life for Rent being the seventh best-seller of the decade. Amy Winehouse (3), Leona Lewis (4) and David Gray (5) were the other solo-artists to feature.[5] The Beatles' compilation album 1 was the highest entry by a group in the chart at number 6; Coldplay (8), Keane (9) and Scissor Sisters (10) made up the rest of the top ten.[6][7] Robbie Williams had the most albums on the list with five entries.

BBC Radio 1 announced the chart in a programme, presented by DJ Nihal, on 28 December 2009.[8] The list of the best-selling albums of the decade in the United Kingdom was also announced in a series of three shows between 29 and 31 December 2009.[8] As it was broadcast during the last week of December, the chart did not include sales from the final week of the year. An updated chart, including sales up to 31 December 2009 and containing some minor changes from the chart broadcast on Radio 1, was published in the UK trade magazine Music Week in the issue dated 30 January 2010.[9]

The list of the best-selling compilation albums of the decade in the UK Compilation Chart was dominated by the Now That's What I Call Music! series of albums. The best-selling compilation album of the 2000s was Now 47 with 1,371,324 copies sold, ahead of Now 50 with 1,367,380 copies. The best-selling soundtrack album of the decade was Mamma Mia! The Movie Soundtrack, with a total of 1,320,357 to the end of 2009.[10]

Best-selling albums

Amy Winehouse had the third best-selling album of the decade with Back to Black, which later became the UK's best-selling album of the 21st century (only to later be overtaken by Adele's 21).
Robbie Williams had the most entries in the top 100 best-selling albums chart with five. Swing When You're Winning charted at number 17, followed by Greatest Hits (19), Sing When You're Winning (20), Escapology (22) and Intensive Care (55).
Coldplay had four entries in the chart: A Rush of Blood to the Head (8), X&Y (12), Parachutes (13) and Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (90).
Eminem had three albums on the list. The Marshall Mathers LP was the 16th best-selling album, while The Eminem Show (61) and Curtain Call: The Hits (89) also appeared.

[9]

No. Title Artist Peak
position 		Year of
release 		Sales
1 Back to Bedlam James Blunt 1 2004 3,191,393[10]
2 No Angel Dido 1 2000 3,052,901[10]
3[a] Back to Black Amy Winehouse 1 2006
4 Spirit Leona Lewis 1 2007
5 White Ladder David Gray 1 1998
6 1 The Beatles 1 2000 2,867,152[10]
7 Life for Rent Dido 1 2003
8 A Rush of Blood to the Head Coldplay 1 2002
9 Hopes and Fears Keane 1 2004
10 Scissor Sisters Scissor Sisters 1 2004 2,707,567[10]
11 Beautiful World Take That 1 2006
12 X&Y Coldplay 1 2005
13 Parachutes Coldplay 1 2000
14 Come Away with Me Norah Jones 1 2002
15 Eyes Open Snow Patrol 1 2006
16 The Marshall Mathers LP Eminem 1 2000
17 Swing When You're Winning Robbie Williams 1 2001
18 Only by the Night Kings of Leon 1 2008 2,260,195[11]
19 Greatest Hits Robbie Williams 1 2004
20 Sing When You're Winning Robbie Williams 1 2000
21 Rockferry Duffy 1 2008
22 Escapology Robbie Williams 1 2002
23 Employment Kaiser Chiefs 2 2005
24 The Circus Take That 1 2008
25 Gold: Greatest Hits ABBA 1 1992 1,995,170[10]
26 Hot Fuss The Killers 1 2004
27 American Idiot Green Day 1 2004
28 By the Way Red Hot Chili Peppers 1 2002
29 Stripped Christina Aguilera 2 2002
30 Songs About Jane Maroon 5 1 2002
31 Justified Justin Timberlake 1 2002
32 Never Forget – The Ultimate Collection Take That 2 2005
33 The Greatest Hits Texas 1 2000
34 Call Off the Search Katie Melua 1 2003
35 Born to Do It Craig David 1 2000
36 Play Moby 1 1999
37 Number Ones Michael Jackson 1 2003
38 Missundaztood Pink 3 2002
39 Just Enough Education to Perform Stereophonics 1 2001
40 Let Go Avril Lavigne 1 2002
41 Final Straw Snow Patrol 3 2003
42 Unbreakable – The Greatest Hits Vol. 1 Westlife 1 2002 1,730,028[10]
43 Friday's Child Will Young 1 2003
44 Songbird Eva Cassidy 1 1998
45 Demon Days Gorillaz 1 2005
46 Fever Kylie Minogue 1 2001
47 Coast to Coast Westlife 1 2000
48 The Platinum Collection (Greatest Hits I, II, III) Queen 2 2000
49 Whitney: The Greatest Hits Whitney Houston 1 2000
50 In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003 R.E.M. 1 2003
51 Eye to the Telescope KT Tunstall 3 2004
52 I Dreamed a Dream Susan Boyle 1 2009 1,632,732[11]
53 Gotta Get Thru This Daniel Bedingfield 2 2002
54 Music Madonna 1 2000
55 Intensive Care Robbie Williams 1 2005
56 Elephunk The Black Eyed Peas 3 2003
57 Good Girl Gone Bad Rihanna 1 2007
58 Life in Cartoon Motion Mika 1 2007
59 ELV1S Elvis Presley 1 2002
60 Breakaway Kelly Clarkson 3 2005
61 The Eminem Show Eminem 1 2002
62 Il Divo Il Divo 1 2004
63 Escape Enrique Iglesias 1 2001
64 Undiscovered James Morrison 1 2006
65 Razorlight Razorlight 1 2006
66 In Between Dreams Jack Johnson 1 2005
67 Greatest Hits Guns N' Roses 1 2004
68 Greatest Hits 1970–2002 Elton John 3 2002
69 Ta-Dah Scissor Sisters 1 2006
70 Sam's Town The Killers 1 2006
71 Confessions Usher 1 2004
72 The Story So Far: The Very Best of Rod Stewart Rod Stewart 7 2001
73 The Fame Lady Gaga 1 2009 1,388,847[11]
74 Inside In/Inside Out The Kooks 2 2006
75 Permission to Land The Darkness 1 2003
76 One Love Blue 1 2002
77 Dreams Can Come True, Greatest Hits Vol. 1 Gabrielle 2 2001
78 Hybrid Theory Linkin Park 4 2000
79 Stop the Clocks Oasis 2 2006
80 My Way: The Best of Frank Sinatra Frank Sinatra 7 1997
81 Ronan Ronan Keating 1 2000
82 Confessions on a Dance Floor Madonna 1 2005
83 Face to Face Westlife 1 2005
84 Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not Arctic Monkeys 1 2006
85 Forever Faithless – The Greatest Hits Faithless 1 2005
86 Piece by Piece Katie Melua 1 2005
87 Fallen Evanescence 1 2003
88 I'm Not Dead Pink 3 2006
89 Curtain Call: The Hits Eminem 1 2005
90 Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends Coldplay 1 2008
91 All Rise Blue 1 2001
92 The Man Who Travis 1 1999
93 10 Years of Hits Ronan Keating 1 2004
94 Franz Ferdinand Franz Ferdinand 3 2004
95 PCD The Pussycat Dolls 7 2005
96 Rise Gabrielle 1 1999
97 How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb U2 1 2004
98 The Invisible Band Travis 1 2001
99 Anastacia Anastacia 1 2004
100 A New Day at Midnight David Gray 1 2002

Note:

  1. ^ The updated chart of the best-selling albums of the decade published in Music Week in January 2010 placed Back to Black at number 19. It appears likely that this position is for sales of the standard edition of the album only. A "deluxe edition" was released in November 2007 and was initially classified as a separate album, with its own chart positions (also peaking at number 1) and its own sales and award certifications. Sales for the two versions were later combined and subsequent reported sales figures for Back to Black are for the standard and deluxe editions combined.

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Official Charts Company". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  2. ^ Swash, Rosie (8 January 2007). "Old songs return to brave new singles chart". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  3. ^ Parker, Sam (1 January 2010). "Revealed: the top ten tracks of the noughties". America Online (AOL). Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  4. ^ "Will Young and James Blunt win biggest-selling single and album of the Noughties". NME. 31 December 2009. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  5. ^ "Will Young has decade's biggest-selling single". Newsround. BBC. 1 January 2010. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  6. ^ Sexton, Paul (31 December 2009). "Will Young tops U.K. singles of decade". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  7. ^ "Reality TV stars top decade chart". Daily Mirror. 31 December 2009. Retrieved 6 February 2010.
  8. ^ a b "Radio 1 to reveal best-selling singles and albums of the Noughties". Press Office. BBC. 14 December 2009. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  9. ^ a b "The Noughties' Official UK Albums Chart Top 100". Music Week. London, England: United Business Media: 19. 30 January 2010.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g "The Rise and Fall". Music Week. London, England: United Business Media: 18. 30 January 2010.
  11. ^ a b c Jones, Alan (16 January 2010). "Being Boyled". Music Week. London, England: United Business Media: 16.
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