This is a list of the best-selling albums of the 21st century to date based on IFPI certification and Nielsen SoundScan sales tracking. The criteria are that the album must have been published (including self-publishing by the artist), and the album must have shipped at least 10 million units starting from January 1, 2001. Units sold include physical copies and digital downloads.
From 2022, IFPI reported three formats of sales chart, newly created Global vinyl album chart, combination of physical copies and digital downloads as Global album sales chart and Global all format chart for totaling of all sales. [1]
Colors | |
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Studio albums | |
Greatest hits and compilations | |
Soundtracks |
Release year | Album | Artist/s | Nationality | Worldwide sales (in millions) | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2011 | 21 | Adele | United Kingdom | 31.0 | [2] |
Release year | Album | Artist/s | Nationality | Worldwide sales (in millions) | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2002 | The Eminem Show | Eminem | United States | 27.0 | [3] |
2002 | Come Away with Me | Norah Jones | United States | 27.0 | [4] |
2015 | 25 | Adele | United Kingdom | 23.0 | [5] |
Release year | Album | Artist/s | Nationality | Worldwide sales (in millions) | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2008 | The Fame | Lady Gaga | United States | 18.0 | [6] |
2003 | Fallen | Evanescence | United States | 17.0 | [7] |
2002 | A Rush of Blood to the Head | Coldplay | United Kingdom | 17.0 | [8] |
2002 | Let Go | Avril Lavigne | Canada | 16.0 | [9] |
2003 | Meteora | Linkin Park | United States | 16.0 | [10] |
2006 | Back to Black | Amy Winehouse | United Kingdom | 16.0 | [11] |
2004 | Confessions | Usher | United States | 15.0 | [12] |
2004 | American Idiot | Green Day | United States | 15.0 | [13] |
2014 | 1989 | Taylor Swift | United States | 14.0 | [14] |
2001 | Laundry Service | Shakira | Colombia | 13.0 | [15] |
2001 | Missundaztood | Pink | United States | 13.0 | [16] |
2005 | X&Y | Coldplay | United Kingdom | 13.0 | [17] |
2005 | Curtain Call: The Hits | Eminem | United States | 13.0 | [18] |
GHV2 is the second greatest hits album by American recording artist Madonna. It was released by Maverick and Warner Bros. Records on November 13, 2001, coinciding with the video album, Drowned World Tour 2001. A follow-up to The Immaculate Collection (1990), GHV2 contains a collection of singles during the second decade of Madonna's career. Madonna mentioned that she only included "songs that I could listen to five times in a row" on it. The album did not contain any new songs, but a promotional single titled "GHV2 Megamix" was released, which contained remixes by Thunderpuss, John Rocks & Mac Quayle and Tracy Young. A promotional remix album was also issued, titled GHV2 Remixed: The Best of 1991–2001.
Ray of Light is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released in early 1998 by Maverick Records. A major stylistic and aesthetic departure from her previous work, Bedtime Stories, Ray of Light is an electronica and techno-pop record which incorporates multiple genres, including ambient, trip hop, psychedelic music and Middle Eastern music. Mystical themes are strongly present in the music and lyrics as a result of Madonna embracing Kabbalah, her study of Hinduism and Buddhism, and her daily practice of Ashtanga yoga.
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.
The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album is a soundtrack album from the film of the same name, released on November 17, 1992, by Arista Records. The album's first side features songs recorded by American singer Whitney Houston, who starred in the film, while side two features the work of various artists. Houston and Clive Davis were co-executive producers of the record.
Confessions on a Dance Floor is the tenth studio album by American singer and songwriter Madonna. It was released on November 9, 2005, by Warner Bros. Records. A complete departure from her previous studio album American Life (2003), the album includes influences of 1970s disco and 1980s electropop, as well as 2000s club music. Initially, she began working with Mirwais Ahmadzaï for the album but later felt that their collaboration was not going in the direction she desired. Madonna took her collaboration with Stuart Price who was overseeing her documentary I'm Going to Tell You a Secret. The album was mainly recorded at Price's home-studio where Madonna spent most of her time during the recordings.
Millennium is the third studio album by American vocal group Backstreet Boys, released by Jive Records on May 18, 1999. It was a highly anticipated follow-up to both their U.S. self-titled debut album and their second internationally-released album, Backstreet's Back (1997). It was their first album to be released in the United States and internationally in the same form simultaneously.
American singer Mariah Carey has released fifteen studio albums, two soundtrack albums, eight compilation albums, four extended plays, and one remix album. Carey is one of the best-selling music artists of all-time, having sold over 220 million records globally. She was presented with the Millennium Award at the 2000 World Music Awards for becoming the best-selling female artist of the millennium. According to the RIAA, she is the highest-certified female artist and tenth overall recording artist with shipments of 75 million albums in the US. She is also ranked as the best-selling female artist of the US Nielsen SoundScan era (1991–present) with album sales of 55.5 million.
American singer Madonna has released 14 studio albums, three soundtrack albums, six live albums, seven compilation albums, and 39 other limited releases. Recognized as the world's best-selling female recording artist of all time by the Guinness World Records, Madonna has accumulated a total record sales of more than 300 million units worldwide, with the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) confirming in 2006, that Madonna's albums alone had sold over 200 million copies worldwide. She is ranked by the RIAA as the best-selling female rock artist of the 20th century and third highest-certified female artist in the United States, with 65.5 million album units. She holds the all-time record for the most number-one albums by a female artist in major music markets such as Australia, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
American singer Madonna has released 94 singles and 23 promotional singles and charted with 23 other songs. Among those releases, a total of 44 Madonna singles have topped the official chart in at least one of the world's top 10 music markets, from "Like a Virgin" (1984) to "Give Me All Your Luvin'" (2012). Globally, she has sold more than 100 million singles, which were predominantly in physical formats. According to Billboard, Madonna is the most successful solo artist in Hot 100 chart history, second overall behind the Beatles. In the United Kingdom, Madonna has scored a total of 64 top-ten hits and 12 number-two peaks. In 2012, she was ranked as the best-selling singles female artist in the UK with 17.6 million singles sold. At the 40th anniversary of the GfK Media Control Charts, Madonna was ranked as the most successful singles artist in German chart history. Her long-standing success with the single format was remarked upon in The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), where editors wrote that she is a "deserving candidate for the title of greatest singles artist since the 1960s heyday of the single"; the staff of Slant commented in 2020 that "by every objective measure, she's the most successful singles artist of all time".
American rapper Eminem has released 11 studio albums, two compilation albums, and one extended play. His music has been released on record labels Interscope Records and Aftermath Entertainment, along with subsidiaries Web Entertainment and his own Shady Records. Eminem is the best-selling rapper of all time and the best-selling artist of the 2000s with US album sales at over 32.25 million during the decade. With sales of over 220 million records worldwide, he is among of the best-selling music artists of all time. According to the RIAA, Eminem has sold 227.5 million certified albums and singles in the United States. In his home country, he has earned 50 platinum albums and 10 number one albums.[A]
Canadian singer Celine Dion has released 27 studio albums, seven live albums, 19 compilation albums, and 25 box sets. Referred to as the "Queen of Power Ballads", Dion is the best-selling Canadian artist of all time and the best-selling artist in the Nielsen SoundScan era in Canada. Dion is also the second best-selling female artist in the United States since Nielsen began tracking sales in 1991 with over 53.2 million albums sold in the country. Guinness World Records recognises her as the Top Selling Album Act in Europe with 33 million certified album sales since 1996. In 2003, Dion was honored by International Federation of the Phonographic Industry for selling 50 million albums in Europe. Billboard placed her second among the best-selling female album artist of the 2000s Decade in the United States with 17.3 million albums sold via Soundscan. According to Billboard, Dion is the sixth Greatest Billboard 200 female solo artist of all time, as well as the eighth Greatest female solo artist of all time in Billboard's chart history.
English singer-songwriter Adele has released four studio albums, one video album, two extended plays, 17 singles and eleven music videos. Adele has sold over 72 million in pure album sales and over 100 million in album equivalent units worldwide over four studio albums and one video album as of December 2021. She was named the best-selling album artist of the 2010s decade in the US and worldwide. She has also sold over 100 million in single sales with total sales records over 170 million as of December 2021. She also became the best-selling female artist of the 21st century in the UK. Her album 21 became the best-selling album of the 21st century.
Christmas is the seventh studio album and first Christmas album released by Canadian singer Michael Bublé. The album was released on October 21, 2011, in Ireland, on October 24, 2011, in the United Kingdom, and on October 25, 2011, in the United States. On the week ending December 10, 2011, Christmas rose to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album sales chart, becoming Bublé's third chart-topper following 2007's Call Me Irresponsible and 2009's Crazy Love, and spent five weeks at No. 1.
25 is the third studio album by the English singer-songwriter Adele, released on 20 November 2015 by XL Recordings and Columbia Records. The album is titled as a reflection of her life and frame of mind at 25 years old and is termed a "make-up record". Its lyrical content features themes of Adele "yearning for her old self, her nostalgia", and "melancholia about the passage of time" according to an interview with the singer by Rolling Stone, as well as themes of motherhood, new love, and regret.
Record sales or music sales are activities related to selling music recordings through physical record shops or digital music stores. Record sales reached their peak in 1999, when 600 million people spent an average of $64 on records, achieving $40 billion in sales of recorded music. Sales continued declining in the 21st century. The collapse of record sales also made artists rely on touring for most of their income. By 2019, record sales accounted for less than half of global recorded music revenue, overtaken by streaming. Following the inclusion of streaming into record charts in the mid-2010s, record sales are also referred to as traditional sales or pure sales.
Greatest Works of Art is the fifteenth studio album by Taiwanese singer Jay Chou, released on 15 July 2022 by JVR Music. It is Chou's first album since his fourteenth studio album Jay Chou's Bedtime Stories and was preceded by six singles released from 2018 to 2022—"Waiting for You" with Gary Yang, "If You Don't Love Me, It's Fine", "Won't Cry" with Mayday vocalist Ashin, "Mojito", and the title track. The song "I Truly Believe" was released in 2019 as the theme for the 2019 Chinese action film Skyfire. The title track and "Still Wandering" also had music videos shot for them, which were released in July 2022.
'The Fame' sold over 18 million copies worldwide and won a Brit Award for best international album.
Upon its release in 2003, Evanescence's debut album, Fallen, became a rock phenomenon, selling 17 million copies worldwide, spending 43 weeks in the top 10 and becoming one of only eight albums to spend an entire year in the Billboard top 50.
Then the music begins and I remember why Green Day sold over 15 million copies of "American Idiot" – it's a really good album.
Albums sold worldwide. Parachutes (8.5 million); A Rush of Blood to the Head (15 million); X&Y (13 million); Viva La Vida (10 million); Mylo Xyloto (6 million).
After leaving Columbia University to pursue a singing career, Keys broke into the music scene in 2001 with her album, Songs in A Minor, which sold 12 million copies worldwide and won Keys five Grammys.
The title track to Dion's 2002 return "A New Day Has Come" spent 21 weeks at No. 1 at AC- setting a record -while the album sold 12 million copies worldwide, according to Sony.
Let us be frank: Dido's debut, 'No Angel', wasn't much cop either. But it was superior to follow-up 'Life For Rent', which sold over 12 million copies worldwide and was the seventh best-selling album of the 2000s in the UK.
Blunt's debut album, Back to Bedlam, has sold 11 million copies worldwide, making it the most successful British album of the new century.
World-wide album sales with All the Right Reasons the most popular selling more than 11 million copies followed by Silver Side Up with 10 million.
'The Emancipation of Mimi', to be the biggest-selling album of the year worldwide (10 million copies sold), taking her career total to well over 160 million.
That was also the last time one of her albums sold over 10 million copies, so maybe Madge is pulling out all of the stops to get another multi-million hit on her hands.
(...) and "Britney", released in 2001, sold 10 million copies (150,000 in Brazil).Alt URL
'Songs About Jane' sold an estimated 10 million copies worldwide, but that was not enough to assure top executives at Sony BMG, the music giant that distributed it, that the rights to Maroon 5's future recordings were worth the asking price.
Releases first album I Dreamed A Dream through Simon Cowell's label. Sells 10 million copies worldwide.