Best selling artists, albums and singles of all-time
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.
| Year | Album | EAS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1946 |  |
The Voice of Frank SinatraFrank Sinatra | 2,161,000 |
| 1948 |  |
Christmas Songs by SinatraFrank Sinatra | 9,231,000 |
| 1954 |  |
Songs for Young LoversFrank Sinatra | 4,954,000 |
| 1955 |  |
In the Wee Small HoursFrank Sinatra | 3,919,000 |
| 1956 |  |
Songs for Swingin' LoversFrank Sinatra | 18,813,000 |
| 1957 |  |
Elvis' Christmas AlbumElvis Presley | 36,171,000 |
| 1958 |  |
Come Fly with MeFrank Sinatra | 11,741,000 |
| 1959 |  |
Come Dance with Me!Frank Sinatra | 4,769,000 |
| 1960 |  |
G.I. BluesElvis Presley | 4,383,000 |
| 1961 |  |
Blue HawaiiElvis Presley | 30,244,000 |
| 1962 |  |
Girls! Girls! Girls!Elvis Presley | 3,548,000 |
| 1963 |  |
Please Please MeThe Beatles | 30,981,000 |
| 1964 |  |
A Hard Day's NightThe Beatles | 28,669,000 |
| 1965 |  |
Help!The Beatles | 34,387,000 |
| 1966 |  |
Sounds of SilenceSimon & Garfunkel | 26,519,000 |
| 1967 |  |
The DoorsThe Doors | 39,743,000 |
| 1968 |  |
The Beatles (White Album)The Beatles | 29,844,000 |
| 1969 |  |
Abbey RoadThe Beatles | 45,621,000 |
| 1970 |  |
Bridge over Troubled WaterSimon & Garfunkel | 46,065,000 |
| 1971 |  |
Led Zeppelin IVLed Zeppelin | 58,652,000 |
| 1972 |  |
Machine HeadDeep Purple | 35,484,000 |
| 1973 |  |
The Dark Side of the MoonPink Floyd | 57,836,000 |
| 1974 |  |
The Way We WereBarbra Streisand | 14,869,000 |
| 1975 |  |
A Night at the OperaQueen | 42,524,000 |
| 1976 |  |
Hotel CaliforniaEagles | 72,400,000 |
| 1977 |  |
Saturday Night FeverBee Gees & Various Artists | 69,762,000 |
| 1978 |  |
GreaseVarious Artists | 53,576,000 |
| 1979 |  |
The WallPink Floyd | 53,127,000 |
| 1980 |  |
Back in BlackAC/DC | 61,383,000 |
| 1981 |  |
EscapeJourney | 34,247,000 |
| 1982 |  |
ThrillerMichael Jackson | 120,620,000 |
| 1983 |  |
SynchronicityThe Police | 37,700,000 |
| 1984 |  |
Born in the U.S.A.Bruce Springsteen | 48,951,000 |
| 1985 |  |
Brothers in ArmsDire Straits | 47,035,000 |
| 1986 |  |
Slippery When WetBon Jovi | 52,408,000 |
| 1987 |  |
BadMichael Jackson | 65,284,000 |
| 1988 |  |
Tracy ChapmanTracy Chapman | 28,018,000 |
| 1989 |  |
...But SeriouslyPhil Collins | 30,442,000 |
| 1990 | No FencesGarth Brooks | 34,014,000 | |
| 1991 |  |
NevermindNirvana | 57,978,000 |
| 1992 |  |
The BodyguardWhitney Houston | 55,161,000 |
| 1993 |  |
Music BoxMariah Carey | 34,650,000 |
| 1994 |  |
DookieGreen Day | 27,529,000 |
| 1995 |  |
Jagged Little PillAlanis Morissette | 42,390,000 |
| 1996 |  |
Falling Into YouCéline Dion | 42,717,000 |
| 1997 |  |
Let's Talk About LoveCéline Dion | 46,902,000 |
| 1998 |  |
Ray Of LightMadonna | 21,451,000 |
| 1999 |  |
...Baby One More TimeBritney Spears | 32,565,000 |
| 2000 |  |
Hybrid TheoryLinkin Park | 35,255,000 |
| 2001 |  |
Laundry ServiceShakira | 17,740,000 |
| 2002 |  |
The Eminem ShowEminem | 36,598,000 |
| 2003 |  |
FallenEvanescence | 24,154,000 |
| 2004 |  |
American IdiotGreen Day | 23,159,000 |
| 2005 |  |
All the Right ReasonsNickelback | 18,981,000 |
| 2006 |  |
Back To BlackAmy Winehouse | 24,790,000 |
| 2007 |  |
Good Girl Gone BadRihanna | 22,866,000 |
| 2008 |  |
The Fame / The Fame MonsterLady Gaga | 38,357,000 |
| 2009 |  |
The E.N.D.Black Eyed Peas | 19,972,000 |
| 2010 |  |
Doo-Wops & HooligansBruno Mars | 25,350,000 |
| 2011 |  |
21Adele | 50,233,000 |
| 2012 |  |
RedTaylor Swift | 21,208,000 |
| 2013 |  |
FrozenVarious Artists | 21,344,000 |
| 2014 |  |
x (Multiply)Ed Sheeran | 25,595,000 |
| 2015 |  |
25Adele | 31,149,000 |
| 2016 |  |
StarboyThe Weeknd | 14,269,000 |
| 2017 |  |
÷ (Divide)Ed Sheeran | 29,180,000 |
| 2018 |  |
Beerbongs & BentleysPost Malone | 14,124,000 |
| 2019 |  |
When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?Billie Eilish | 15,393,000 |
| 2020 |  |
Future NostalgiaDua Lipa | 13,976,000 |
| 2021 |  |
SourOlivia Rodrigo | 12,005,000 |
| 2022 |  |
Un Verano Sin TiBad Bunny | 12,938,000 |
| 2023 |  |
MAÑANA SERÁ BONITOKAROL G | 2,237,000 |
4
191
votes
Article Rating
Where is The Immaculate Collection by Madonna?
Looks like Elvis has passed Michael Jackson on UK All Time List 1956-2022 (albums).
3. Elvis Presley 26.8 million
4. Michael Jackson 26.6 million.
Adding other formats (singles…etc.), Elvis might be about 2m EAS above MJ, so I guess he was always above him.
It’s 26.6 vs 26.3 on here. How did you get your numbers?
UK best selling album artists 7/ 1956-12/2022 1. Beatles 35.7 m 2. Queen 28.7 m 3. Elvis Presley 26.8 m 4. Michael Jackson 26.6 m 5. Madonna 22.9 m 6. Abba 21.8 m 7. Rod Stewart 21.7 m 8. Robbie Williams 20.8 m 9. U2 20.7 m 10. Elton John 20 m 11. David Bowie 19.9 m 12. Oasis 18.7 m 13. Pink Floyd 17.9 m 14. Rolling Stones 17.6 m 15. Fleetwood Mac 16.3 m 16. Take That 15.9 m 17. Bob Dylan 15.3 m 18. Coldplay 14.8 m 19. Dire Straits 14.6 m 20. Phil Collins 14.4 m… Read more »
Only top 30？
The numbers are from the Haven forum, where a poster Shireblogger had a shot at detailing the top selling album artists in the UK. It’s not anything official, as nothing is, with all time sales.
Is someone say it’s official?
No, someone say nothing, just post random list with no link, no explanation etc
Did i step on toes? But anyway the trend is that Elvis is on the rise. David Bowie sold almost 5 million albums (EAS) period 01/2016-12/2022.
Thanks! I’d like to see the trends this website will post to see how much artists are increasing as of now
There is list from 1956 to 12/2015. ie. Uk album sales. I can tap it tomorrow.
Hi Mikko!
These are not “trends”, this is a completely different set of estimates, that I don’t agree with at all. The work put on by Shireblogger is respectable, but very poorly done, based loosely on charts only. He doesn’t even consider certifications, doesn’t use discogs, doesn’t check existing releases that failed to chart, is rarely aware of music series, clubs, budget versions, etc. Just to take an example, his “estimates” on Sinatra are 10m including streams, while he sold 25m pure.
Uhh! Very negative tone from a colleague. Collegiality! Were it Elvis again who had passed by MJ? I knew. But i’m about to tap Uk album list from 1956-12/2015 .
Here it is. Uk album artists from 1956-12/2015. Old list and unofficial. Top 40 1. Beatles 31.5 m 2. Queen 23.8 m 3. Michael Jackson 23.5 m 4. Elvis Presley 22 m 5. Madonna 19.8 m 6. Robbie Williams 19.4 m 7. Rod Stewart 19.3 m 8. Abba 18.4 m 9. U2 17.8 m 10. Elton John 16.5 m 11. Oasis 16.3 m 12. David Bowie 15.7 m 13. Pink Floyd 15.4 m 14. Take That 15.1 m 15. Rolling Stones 15 m 16. Simply Red 13.3 m 17. Phil Collins 13 m 18. Dire Straits 12.850 m 19. Fleetwood… Read more »
Well Mikko, let’s just say that I understand and know figures well enough to spot when people disregard accuracy and instead prefer to manipulate people for their personal interests, and I don’t rate very high people behaving this way nor do I see them as colleagues of mine.
These guys are completely unknown to me. I just saw this list or lists. Yes, i know you are pro, otherwise i wouldn’t be on this site year after year. You have been in this case so-called game-changer.
1989 just did 13k today.. I remember when it was doing 3k in 2021, her longevity is unreal
Hello. We cannot log in in the website anymore ?
Hello Lag & everyone who got/reported the issue,
It should be fixed now. Somewhat the automatic update of wordpress went wrong and half of our plugins got deactivated, including those used for login, pagination, mailing, etc.
It’s all activated back, I can’t be sure that settings got retrieved 100% correctly so let me know if anything weird happens. Sorry for the inconvenience!
Hey. On Billie Eilish’s streams page would it be possible to remove the Prime Day version of All the good girls go to hell that’s on there? On Spotify it’s part of a random Various artists album, and even though it links to Billie’s page it’s not on there. I just feel like it shouldn’t be counted for her streams
You forgot Just Dance (14M according to you) and Poker Face (20M) by Lady Gaga.
Please add Morgan Wallen’s ‘One Thing At A Time’ to the 2023 top albums list, only Karol G’s album is there. Morgan’s has topped 1.7M units in the US, as per HDD.
Please create an article on Melanie Martinez! Her album called ‘Crybaby’ sold more than 2 million copies in the US. The album will soon cross 4 BILLION streams. Crybaby has 4,617,000 CSPC without counting the physical sales which is amazing and deserves to be on the list, since Zara Larsson also made it here…
page3, Celine actually had SM article
You’ve done a great thing here. i don’t know if very many peopleunderstand how cool this is.
abba is missing from the lists by country
Hi césar!
The oldest studies aren’t added yet.
during these new updates, I noticed that the various CSPC articles are not in order of release of the various albums of an artist, then I noticed that there is also discrepancy between physical singles of that page and physical singles which are in the CSPC article of an artist for example U2 and Metallica; for example on one side it brings The Joshua Tree (1987) – 1,215,000 equivalent albums and instead in the article CSPC reports 1,470,000 EAS.
The same happens for physical singles of Metallica.
I hope you will answer me.