The highest-selling albums in Japan are ranked in the weekly Oricon Albums Chart, which is published by Oricon Style magazine. The data are compiled by Oricon based on each albums' weekly physical sales. This list includes the albums that reached the number one place on that chart in 1991. [1] In 1991, 32 albums occupied the peak position on the chart.
Yumi Matsutoya's twenty-second studio album The Gates of Heaven became the best-selling album of 1991 despite not reaching number one during the year. [2] The album achieved two weeks atop the chart in 1990. [3] [4]
Issue Date | Album | Artist(s) |
---|---|---|
January 14 | Princess Princess | Princess Princess |
February 4 | K2C | Kome Kome Club |
March 4 | Start | Jun Sky Walker(s) |
March 11 | Green | Midori Karashima |
March 18 | Mind Universe | Shizuka Kudo |
March 25 | Green | Midori Karashima |
April 1 | Yamada Katsute Nai CD | Yamada Katsute Nai Wink Hoka |
April 15 | Higher Self | Kyosuke Himuro |
April 29 | Lindberg IV | Lindberg |
May 6 | Kome Kome Club | Kome Kome Club |
May 20 | Lindberg IV | Lindberg |
May 27 | Oh! Yeah! | Oda Kazumasa |
June 10 | Mars | B'z |
June 17 | Scene II | Aska |
July 1 | Artisan | Tatsuro Yamashita |
July 8 | Washing | Mariko Nagai |
July 15 | Jealousy | X Japan |
July 22 | Lucky | Misato Watanabe |
July 29 | Chou-fleur | Takako Okamura |
August 5 | Afropia | Kyōko Koizumi |
August 26 | Scene II | Aska |
September 2 | Calendar Girl | Ayumi Nakamura |
September 9 | Edge of the Knife | Shogo Hamada |
September 16 | Expo | TMN |
September 23 | Lluvia | Miki Imai |
September 30 | Kubojah: Parallel World I | Toshinobu Kubota |
October 7 | Guitarhythm II | Tomoyasu Hotei |
October 14 | Revolution | Hideaki Tokunaga |
October 21 | Tree | Chage and Aska |
November 11 | Extra Flight | Lindberg |
November 25 | Million Kisses | Dreams Come True |
December 2 | Dawn Purple | Yumi Matsutoya |
December 9 | In the Life | B'z |
December 16 | Dolls in Action | Princess Princess |
December 23 | Japan | Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi |
Hikaru Utada, who is also known by the mononym Utada, is a Japanese-American pop singer, songwriter and producer. By 2010, Utada had become one of the most influential, and best-selling, musical artists in Japan.
J-pop, natively also known simply as pops, is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in traditional music of Japan, and significantly in 1960s pop and rock music. J-pop replaced kayōkyoku in the Japanese music scene.
Arashi is a Japanese boy band consisting of five members formed under the Johnny & Associates talent agency. The members are Satoshi Ohno, Sho Sakurai, Masaki Aiba, Kazunari Ninomiya, and Jun Matsumoto. Arashi officially formed on September 15, 1999, in Honolulu, Hawaii, and made their debut CD on November 3, 1999. The group was initially signed to Pony Canyon and released one studio album and six singles—beginning with their 1999 eponymous debut single before moving to the Johnny's subsidiary label J Storm in 2001, which was initially set up for their succeeding releases. While their debut single sold close to a million copies, the group took a mixture of pop and alternate/contemporary approach to its music which attracted core followers, but subsequently faced commercially slow sales.
Rhythm of Love is the third studio album to be recorded by Australian singer Kylie Minogue. It was released in the United Kingdom on 12 November 1990 by Pete Waterman Limited (PWL) and in Australia on 3 December 1990 by Mushroom Records. Minogue started to become more involved in the writing and production of the album. Recording sessions took place in London and Los Angeles during early-to-mid 1990. Minogue was credited as co-writer for the first time while Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW) were the primary producers along with new producers and collaborations, including Keith Cohen, Stephen Bray and Michael Jay.
Toshinobu "Toshi" Kubota is a Japanese singer, songwriter, musician, music producer, and radio personality. He has produced six million-seller records and thirty-three Top 40 singles during his career. Kubota is currently part of Sony Music Japan. In addition, he has composed and written songs for many singers including Hiromi Iwasaki, Misia, Toshinori Yonekura, Kyōko Koizumi, and many other recording artists.
The Immaculate Collection is the first greatest hits album by American singer Madonna, released on November 13, 1990, by Sire Records. It contains fifteen of her hit singles recorded throughout the 1980s, as well as two brand new tracks, "Justify My Love" and "Rescue Me". All the previously released material were reworked through the QSound audio technology, becoming the first ever album to use it. Meanwhile, the new material saw Madonna working with Lenny Kravitz and Shep Pettibone. The album's title is a pun on the Immaculate Conception, a Marian dogma of the Catholic Church.
TVXQ, an initialism for Tong Vfang Xien Qi, is a South Korean male pop duo consisting of U-Know Yunho and Max Changmin. They are known as Tohoshinki in Japanese releases, and are sometimes referred to as DBSK, an abbreviation of their Korean name Dong Bang Shin Ki (Korean: 동방신기). Their name roughly translates to "Rising Gods of the East".
Queen are a British rock band, whose classic line-up consisted of vocalist and pianist Freddie Mercury, guitarist Brian May, drummer Roger Taylor and bassist John Deacon. Since the 1970s, Queen has sold 300 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling artists in history. Billboard ranked them as the 87th Greatest Artist of All Time. According to RIAA, Queen has sold 86.5 million certified records in the US.
Blue Blood is the second studio album by Japanese rock band X Japan, then known as simply X. It was released on April 21, 1989, by CBS/Sony as the band's major label debut. Blue Blood sold more than 700,000 copies, reached number 6 on the Oricon chart and stayed on the chart for more than 100 weeks. The album's singles would also reach the top five on the chart. In 2007, Rolling Stone Japan ranked Blue Blood number 15 on their list of the "100 Greatest Japanese Rock Albums of All Time".
Jealousy is the third studio album by Japanese heavy metal band X Japan, then known as simply X. The album was released on July 1, 1991 by Sony, as the band's second major label release. Jealousy is the band's best-selling album, having sold more than one million copies, it topped the Oricon chart and stayed on the chart for 50 weeks. The album's singles would also reach the top three on the chart. It is their last album under the name "X", before changing to "X Japan", and the last to feature Taiji on bass, who would be replaced by Heath.
South Korea-based girl group Girls' Generation have released ten studio albums, two live albums, four extended plays (EPs), and twenty-eight singles. As of November 2012, Girls' Generation has sold over 4.4 million albums and 30 million digital singles. The group has sold over 1.74 million albums in South Korea as of December 2014, and 3.48 million records, including over 945,000 physical singles and 1.9 million albums in Japan as of January 2017.
CNBLUE is a South Korean pop rock band formed in 2009. The band consists of Jung Yong-hwa, Kang Min-hyuk (drums), and Lee Jung-shin (bass). First bassist Kwon Kwang-jin left the band after they released their debut Japanese extended play Now or Never in 2009, and was replaced by Lee Jung-shin. Lee Jong-hyun left the band on August 28, 2019.
Australian singer Kylie Minogue has released fifteen studio albums, thirteen compilation albums, nine live albums, ten extended plays (EP), eleven remix albums and two box sets. With estimated career sales of over 80 million albums worldwide as of July 2020, Minogue is recognized as the highest-selling female Australian recording artist of all time. Referred as the “Princess of Pop” by various media outlets, she has scored seven number-one albums on the ARIA Albums Chart, the most for any female Australian artist. In the United Kingdom, she holds the record for being the first woman to score a number 1 on the Official Albums Chart in five consecutive decades, from the 1980s to the 2020s.
This is a list of the world's fastest-selling albums of recorded music. To appear on the list, the figure must have been published by a reliable source and all sales must have occurred in the first week of release. This list can contain any type of album, including studio albums, extended plays, greatest hits, compilations, various artists, soundtracks and remixes. Market order within the article is ranked alphabetically. Albums within each table are listed in order of number of copies sold and thereafter by the artist's first name.
During 2005–2010, Kim has had two solo songs from SS501 albums: "Rize Up" from Kokoro, and "Please Be Nice To Me" from SS501 Solo Collection. In 2008, he released "Thank You" digital single, a theme song from We Got Married and was also included in SS501 mini album Find. In 2009, he contributed two soundtracks from Boys Over Flowers including the acoustic version of "Because I'm Stupid"" and "A Thing Called Happiness". He, then released a DVD entitled Goodbye Yoon Ji-hoo, marking the end of his character role in Boys Over Flowers, and coming back as the leader of SS501. In 2010, he contributed "One More Time" from his drama Playful Kiss.
South Korean boy band BTS have released nine studio albums, seven compilation albums, and six extended plays. In December 2018, BTS surpassed 10 million albums sold, setting the record for reaching that milestone in the shortest span of time among all Korean acts to have debuted since 2000, with five million of those albums being sold in South Korea that year alone. By April 2020, the group had sold over 20 million physical albums in South Korea, becoming the best-selling Korean act of all time in less than seven years. As of December 2022, they have sold over 38 million albums domestically.
South Korean pop group TVXQ, known as Tohoshinki in Japanese releases, have released 74 singles, 3 featured appearances, and 27 soundtrack appearances. The group signed with S.M. Entertainment in 2003 and released their debut single "Hug" in January 2004, peaking at number four on the Monthly Albums Chart of the Music Industry Association of Korea (MIAK). Their following single "The Way U Are", released in June 2004, entered the MIAK Monthly Albums Chart at number one.
Love Yourself: Her is the fifth extended play by South Korean boy group BTS. The EP was released on September 18, 2017, by Big Hit Entertainment. The album was released in four versions and contains nine tracks, with "DNA" as its lead single.
The albums discography of American singer-songwriter Janet Jackson consists of ten studio albums, two compilation albums, and two remix albums. When she was sixteen, her father arranged a contract for her with A&M Records. Her debut album, Janet Jackson (1982), peaked at number 64 on the US Billboard 200 chart and sold 250,000 copies in the US. Her next album, Dream Street (1984), peaked at number 147 on the Billboard 200, a weaker effort than her previous album. Her third album, Control (1986), which became known as her breakthrough album, topped the Billboard 200 and sold over 10 million copies worldwide. Her fourth album, Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989), topped the Billboard 200 for four consecutive weeks and sold three million copies within the first four months of its release. The album went on to produce seven consecutive top 5 hits, four of them reaching the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in three separate calendar years, A record yet to be broken. The album was certified 6× Platinum by RIAA, and sold over 12 million copies worldwide.