France Best Selling Albums Ever:
All-Time Ranking (2015)

Female Albums

01 Céline Dion – D’eux (1995) : 4 210 000
02 Lara Fabian – Pure (1996) : 1 975 000
03 Céline Dion – S’il Suffisait D’Aimer (1998) : 1 890 000
04 Adele – 21 (2011) : 1 850 000
05 Céline Dion – Let’s Talk About Love (1997) : 1 610 000
06 Norah Jones – Come Away With Me (2002) : 1 590 000
07 Mylène Farmer – Les Mots (2001) : 1 550 000
08 Patricia Kaas – Mademoiselle Chante… (1988) : 1 490 000
09 Hélène Ségara – Au Nom D’Une Femme (2000) : 1 470 000
10 Mylène Farmer – Ainsi Soit Je… (1988) : 1 465 000
11 Mylène Farmer – L’Autre… (1991) : 1 420 000
12 Carla Bruni – Quelqu’un M’A Dit (2002) : 1 405 000
13 Patricia Kaas – Je Te Dis Vous (1993) : 1 340 000
14 Tracy Chapman – Tracy Chapman (1988) : 1 330 000
15 Amy Winehouse – Back To Black (2006) : 1 300 000
16 Mariah Carey – Music Box (1993) : 1 290 000
17 Dido – No Angel (1999) : 1 250 000
18 Mylène Farmer – Innamoramento (1999) : 1 140 000
19 Isabelle Boulay – Mieux Qu’Ici-Bas (2000) : 1 125 000
20 Zaz – Zaz (2010) : 1 100 000

Out of the 29 female albums that made it past 1 million sales, this is a surprise to absolutely no one to see Celine Dion dominating the ranking. Her album D’Eux turns into ridicule sales of all other albums with an over 2 to 1 lead over the runner up album. The Canadian superstar also features at #3, #5 and #26 with Falling Into You. If she dominates thanks to the magnitude of her success in mid-90s, Mylène Farmer has nothing to be ashamed of as she owns albums #7, #10, #11, #18 and #27 with Anamorphosée. Her five albums inside the ranking are a record among female artists. Her past rival Patricia Kaas has a very good showing too at #8, #13 and #24 with Scène De Vie. The only purely foreign artist with such results is Madonna that fails the Top 20 but still has three million sellers in True Blue (#21), The Immaculate Collection (#23) and Ray Of Light (#28).

The rest of this list is mostly fulfilled with one album wonders. Lara Fabian did so at the best period to be as high as #2 overall while the likes Norah Jones, Amy Winehouse, Dido, Tracy Chapman, Zaz, Carla Bruni or Mariah Carey took French heart by storm with one of their album. Special mention to Adele who’s soon to be #3 album rocketed incredibly high on this list despite awful market conditions. She is also likely to join the list with her third album 25 in the upcoming months / years.