Albums Ranking – CSPC – #1 per year
This list is about the most successful albums per release year (understand “which have generated the most sales”). The figures are given in EAS (equivalent album sales).
Please keep in mind that some artists are missing, because their analysis has not been done yet. The complete list is available here. All figures reflect the value as collected at the time of the artist’s respective articles.
1956- Elvis Presley – Elvis Presley – 7,646,000
1957- Elvis Presley – Elvis’ Christmas Album – 35,532,000
1958- Elvis Presley – King Creole – 3,718,000
1959- Elvis Presley – A Date with Elvis – 2,053,000
1960- Elvis Presley – G.I. Blues – 4,321,000
1961- Elvis Presley – Blue Hawaii – 29,422,000
1962- Elvis Presley – Girls! Girls! Girls! – 3,470,000
1963- The Beatles – Please Please Me – 30,050,000
1964- The Beatles – A Hard Day’s Night – 25,886,000
1965- The Beatles – Help! – 33,194,000
1966- Simon & Garfunkel – Sounds of Silence – 26,037,000
1967- The Doors – The Doors – 38,936,000
1968- The Beatles – The Beatles (White Album) – 28,116,000
1969- The Beatles – Abbey Road – 43,171,000
1970- Simon & Garfunkel – Bridge over Troubled Water – 45,148,000
1971- Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin IV – 57,016,000
1972- Eagles – Eagles – 26,209,000
1973- Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon – 55,796,000
1974- Barbra Streisand – The Way We Were – 14,774,000
1975- Queen – A Night at the Opera – 40,551,000
1976- Eagles – Hotel California – 70,575,000
1977- Bee Gees & Various Artists – Saturday Night Fever – 67,150,000
1978- Various Artists – Grease – 52,216,000
1979- Pink Floyd – The Wall – 50,309,000
1980- AC/DC – Back in Black – 58,224,000
1981- Journey – Escape – 33,133,000
1982- Michael Jackson – Thriller – 116,732,000
1983- The Police – Synchronicity – 36,597,000
1984- Bruce Springsteen – Born in the U.S.A. – 47,373,000
1985- Dire Straits – Brothers in Arms – 45,751,000
1986- Bon Jovi – Slippery When Wet – 50,117,000
1987- Michael Jackson – Bad – 62,899,000
1988- Tracy Chapman – Tracy Chapman – 27,234,000
1989- Phil Collins – …But Seriously – 29,736,000
1990- Garth Brooks – No Fences – 34,014,000
1991- Nirvana – Nevermind – 52,930,000
1992- Whitney Houston – The Bodyguard – 53,744,000
1993- Mariah Carey – Music Box – 34,135,000
1994- Green Day – Dookie – 25,759,000
1995- Alanis Morissette – Jagged Little Pill – 41,484,000
1996- Céline Dion – Falling Into You – 41,895,000
1997- Céline Dion – Let’s Talk About Love – 46,084,000
1998- Madonna – Ray Of Light – 21,197,000
1999- Britney Spears – …Baby One More Time – 31,192,000
2000- Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP – 31,001,000
2001- Shakira – Laundry Service – 16,736,000
2002- Eminem – The Eminem Show – 31,802,000
2003- Evanescence – Fallen – 22,768,000
2004- Green Day – American Idiot – 21,366,000
2005- Nickelback – All the Right Reasons – 17,495,000
2006- Amy Winehouse – Back To Black – 22,571,000
2007- Rihanna – Good Girl Gone Bad – 18,602,000
2008- Lady Gaga – The Fame / The Fame Monster – 35,597,000
2009- Justin Bieber – My World / My World 2.0 – 20,841,000
2010- Katy Perry – Teenage Dream – 19,723,000
2011- Adele – 21 – 45,255,000
2012- Bruno Mars – Unorthodox Jukebox – 14,778,000
2013- Various Artists – Frozen – 17,731,000
2014- Ed Sheeran – x (Multiply) – 20,870,000
2015- Adele – 25 – 26,580,000
2016- Drake – Views – 9,239,000
2017- Ed Sheeran – ÷ (Divide) – 22,217,000
2018- Post Malone – Beerbongs & Bentleys – 10,351,000
2019- Billie Eilish – When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? – 9,044,000
2020- BTS – Map of the Soul: 7 – 6,870,000
I don’t believe Metallica’s Black album has outsold Guns ‘n’ Roses Appetite for Destruction.
Thank you for your contribution.
Will Taylor‘s rerecordings make her the winner in the race for the 100 Million in the 21st century?
Nah eminem has sold more records
Eminem debuted in the 90s though
Bahaha what!? Taylor has sold more Albums & Digital Singles than Eminem just in the US ALONE!
RIAA Certified Albums:
Eminem – 64.5m
Taylor – 64m (and that’s not including Any Album sales from 2018 to Today, Big Machine refuses to have them audited or allow her to she’s been due to pass him for years they’ve been back to back unmoving)
RIAA Digital Singles:
Taylor – 134m (3rd most and again without any sales from 2018 to Today and she is due for more diamond certifications)
Eminem – 107.5m (6th he’s recieved certification in 2020 & 2021)
Eminem has 20m plus us albums yet to be certified
Certifications are out of date for most artists. Labels have to choose to update them, and most don’t. It’s not automatic like in some countries. So certifications only show the MINIMUM sales of an artists, not the total sales.
I think Coldplay and Rihanna were already over 100 Million before her
if you update the pure sales of the 3 of them Taylor Swift is already at 100m while Coldplay and Rihanna are around 99.5m currently
This is over 4yrs old so
Eminem obviously crushed everybody during the 21st century with 175 million EAS. Then you have Coldplay, Rihanna and Taylor with a respectable total of 100 million.
Is there any act who could break the top 5 best selling digital single artist? Maybe Kanye West?? In top 10 maybe Nicki Minaj?
If you have time, please update Blackpink’s! It’s been quite a while since the last update. Thank you!
I think they haven’t been studied since not that many album releases yet and there are obviously older acts who sold more and are in need to be studied more. It would be cool if they were added though, since they are pretty big when it comes to streaming
Shouldn’t Sting and The Police totals be combined ? Considering “Rod Stewart & Faces”, “George Michael & Wham”, Bon Jovi’s total including Jon’s solo album… I mean, Sting basically WAS The Police, writing the songs and singing them.
I disagree they are two distinct and separate acts, I also disagree with Rod Stewart & Faces being combined.
I think Bon Jovi is different because Jon’s album sold because he was in Bon Jovi and all they did was add three letter before the bands name.
And its impossible to split George Michael and Wham! because there are solo Michael works on Wham! albums and George Michael compilations that dont contain Wham! songs still contain those songs
Was wondering have you guys considered adding a devoted page to a running list of best-selling compilation albums for artists that have been studied? Would be nice to have as a reference since they get excluded out from the Studio Albums page.
And now Paul Simon has sold publishing rights to Sony’s for 200 $ million. Fleetwood Mac (Lyndsey Buckinham and Steve Nicks), Richie Sambora (Bon Jovis), Dylan, Neil Young, Ryan Tedder (200 $ million) and now P.Simon and many others songwrites have recieved hundres million dollars in compensation for their work. Biggest deal at this time Bob Dylan’s 400 $ millions. But i think that Madonna and many others pop singers finds difficult to sell her or his music, cause of the songwrites as many as ten. Beyonce Lemonades record had about 40 authors(! )said Hipgnosis founder Merck Mercuriadis. The authentic… Read more »
Business is changing. Hipgnosis founder Merck Mercuriadis has been great gift to songwriters, who are most important in the business. Spotify payment to artists and expecially the songwrites is non-existent. Now Dylan, Young, Paul Simon, Calvin Harris, Ryan Tedder, Fleerwood Mac, Shakira and dozens others got a decent reward for their work. 80-400 $ million ballpark. Spotify is rude and the most important thing for them is to make money. Founder Daniel Ek net worth 4,5 billion dollars and his friends in Spotify are billionaires too. This seam was struck by this Mr. Mercuradius. For him music is most important… Read more »
I would like do you all count/esitmate Apple Music US streaming data, because it’s A LOT of affect for US charts?
Hi Tommy!
There’s an article on them already. Of course it would be great to include them, but it’s their choice to hide their numbers.
i think Lana needs an update… she released two albums since her article was last updated