Official Biggest Selling Albums of the Millennium so far revealed!
Adele’s 21 is the biggest selling artist album of the millennium to date, the Official Charts Company can reveal. The singer-songwriter’s second studio album – which spent an impressive 23 weeks at Number 1 - has sold nearly 4,740,000 copies in the UK to date.
Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black earns the Number 2 spot with sales of over 3,560,000 since its 2006 release. The former Official Albums Chart Number 1 spawned five Top 40 singles including Rehab, You Know I’m No Good, Back To Black, Tears Dry On Their Own and Love Is A Losing Game.
In at Number 3 is James Blunt’s debut LP Back To Bedlam, which counts 3,310,000 sales this millennium. The album spent 10 weeks at the Official Albums Chart summit, racking up a total of 40 weeks in the Top 40.
Rounding out the Top 5 are chart debuts Leona Lewis’ Spirit with 3,130,000 UK sales and Dido’s No Angel with 3,080,000 sales.
Robbie Williams and Take That tie for the most entries in the Top 50 with four each. Robbie’s Swing When You’re Winning (21), Greatest Hits (25), Sing When You’re Winning (31) and Escapology (35) feature on the list alongside Take That’s Beautiful World (13), Progress (22), Never Forget – The Ultimate Collection (24) and The Circus (30).
Other acts with multiple entries include; Coldplay (3), Adele (2), Dido (2), Ed Sheeran (2), Michael Buble (2) and Rihanna (2).
Of the Top 50 Official Biggest Selling Artist Albums of the Millennium, only two were released before the year 2000 - David Gray’s White Ladder and ABBA’s Gold – Greatest Hits, which sit at Numbers 8 and 19, respectively.
Only 39 albums have passed the 2 million UK sales mark this millennium, with the latest addition to the list, Ed Sheeran’s X, tipping over just this week.
Check out the full Top 50 Official Biggest Selling Artist Albums of the Millennium so far below:
NO. | TITLE | ARTIST | LABEL |
1 | 21 | ADELE | XL RECORDINGS |
2 | BACK TO BLACK | AMY WINEHOUSE | ISLAND |
3 | BACK TO BEDLAM | JAMES BLUNT | ATLANTIC |
4 | SPIRIT | LEONA LEWIS | SYCO MUSIC |
5 | NO ANGEL | DIDO | ARISTA |
6 | 1 | BEATLES | APPLE CORPS |
7 | CRAZY LOVE | MICHAEL BUBLE | REPRISE |
8 | WHITE LADDER | DAVID GRAY | EAST WEST |
9 | THE FAME | LADY GAGA | INTERSCOPE |
10 | A RUSH OF BLOOD TO THE HEAD | COLDPLAY | PARLOPHONE |
11 | LIFE FOR RENT | DIDO | CHEEKY |
12 | ONLY BY THE NIGHT | KINGS OF LEON | HAND ME DOWN |
13 | BEAUTIFUL WORLD | TAKE THAT | POLYDOR |
14 | HOPES AND FEARS | KEANE | ISLAND |
15 | SCISSOR SISTERS | SCISSOR SISTERS | POLYDOR |
16 | X&Y | COLDPLAY | PARLOPHONE |
17 | PARACHUTES | COLDPLAY | PARLOPHONE |
18 | COME AWAY WITH ME | NORAH JONES | VIRGIN |
19 | GOLD - GREATEST HITS | ABBA | POLYDOR |
20 | THE MARSHALL MATHERS LP | EMINEM | INTERSCOPE |
21 | SWING WHEN YOU'RE WINNING | ROBBIE WILLIAMS | ISLAND |
22 | PROGRESS | TAKE THAT | POLYDOR |
23 | EYES OPEN | SNOW PATROL | FICTION |
24 | NEVER FORGET - THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION | TAKE THAT | RCA |
25 | GREATEST HITS | ROBBIE WILLIAMS | ISLAND |
26 | NUMBER ONES | MICHAEL JACKSON | EPIC |
27 | 19 | ADELE | XL RECORDINGS |
28 | CHRISTMAS | MICHAEL BUBLE | REPRISE |
29 | ROCKFERRY | DUFFY | A&M |
30 | THE CIRCUS | TAKE THAT | POLYDOR |
31 | SING WHEN YOU'RE WINNING | ROBBIE WILLIAMS | ISLAND |
32 | OUR VERSION OF EVENTS | EMELI SANDE | VIRGIN |
33 | HOT FUSS | KILLERS | VERTIGO |
34 | AMERICAN IDIOT | GREEN DAY | REPRISE |
35 | ESCAPOLOGY | ROBBIE WILLIAMS | ISLAND |
36 | EMPLOYMENT | KAISER CHIEFS | B-UNIQUE/POLYDOR |
37 | SONGS ABOUT JANE | MAROON 5 | A&M |
38 | BY THE WAY | RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS | WARNER BROS |
39 | X | ED SHEERAN | ASYLUM |
40 | STRIPPED | CHRISTINA AGUILERA | RCA |
41 | JUSTIFIED | JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE | JIVE |
42 | THE GREATEST HITS | TEXAS | MERCURY |
43 | I DREAMED A DREAM | SUSAN BOYLE | SYCO MUSIC |
44 | + | ED SHEERAN | ASYLUM |
45 | LOUD | RIHANNA | DEF JAM |
46 | GOOD GIRL GONE BAD | RIHANNA | DEF JAM |
47 | CALL OFF THE SEARCH | KATIE MELUA | DRAMATICO |
48 | BORN TO DO IT | CRAIG DAVID | WEA |
49 | UNBREAKABLE - THE GREATEST HITS - VOL 1 | WESTLIFE | S |
50 | GREATEST HITS | GUNS N' ROSES | GEFFEN |
© Official Charts Company. Chart shows the Top 50 biggest selling albums since the Millenium, from week 1 2000 to week 11 2015.
Related artists
ABBA
ADELE
AMY WINEHOUSE
CHRISTINA AGUILERA
COLDPLAY
CRAIG DAVID
DAVID GRAY
DIDO
DUFFY
ED SHEERAN
EMELI SANDE
EMINEM
GREEN DAY
GUNS N' ROSES
JAMES BLUNT
JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE
KAISER CHIEFS
KATIE MELUA
KEANE
KILLERS
KINGS OF LEON
LADY GAGA
LEONA LEWIS
MAROON 5
MICHAEL BUBLE
MICHAEL JACKSON
NORAH JONES
RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS
RIHANNA
ROBBIE WILLIAMS
SCISSOR SISTERS
SNOW PATROL
SUSAN BOYLE
TAKE THAT
TEXAS
THE BEATLES
WESTLIFE
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JLO
Because Christina took 4 years to release another album after Stripped and it was a complete U Turn as far as sound and her look went I think it hurt her in the long run. Christina could and probably should have capitalized on the success of Stripped and stayed with that type of sound and mood for a bit. You don't have to completely change your sound and look with each album as it's dangerous. A few fans who loved Stripped probably bought B2B because of that but when you change your sound so drastically (R&B/POP to 40s and 50s jazz and blues inspired stuff) between albums the danger is turning off people because that might not be their thing. Christina could have really been the biggest female artist especially in Europe after Stripped but she went away for 3 years and the momentum deflated. She really had a chance to possibly be one of the top 5 highest selling female artist in UK chart history after the success of Stripped. I know people who were JUST buying their copy 2 even 3 years later. THAT Dirrty Christina should have hung around a few more years. Changing her look and sound so drastically every time doesn't make her seem genuine with the package she's selling at that time (even though I know how hard she works on her albums). After B2B other female artists came along (Rihanna came into her own, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga arrived in 2008) and Christina was left wanting even though Bionic reached #1 in the UK it sold like 20,000 or something to achieve it. It's a shame because Stripped era and what Christina was doing is what many fans of artists love to see these days still.
D
Dav
Christina Aguilera.... Stripedd is amazing
StrongAndTasty .
Sam Smith's The Lonely Hour is about to be on this list.
Erce
Stripped is not over 2 millions but its close
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Ƶ-ė-ḋ-ė-ặ-ụ-x
I thought Pink's Missundaztood sold more than Stripped and Justified...? Well - it's great to see 4 females in the Top 5! 💗
Anato Elsto
What really counts is the biggest selling album of all time, not just this millennium.
DS
David Sutton
It would be nice to have a column with the sales for all 50 albums. Any chance of adding that?
Oliver Enriquez
Christina's Legendary Album.
wmarisa
DIDO DIDO DIDO
tuba
XTINA legendary album Stripped ♡♡♡ queen
AD
Alejandro Daniel
xtina
RB
Riot Berry
Christina Aguilera (QUEEN)
Robbie Williams
Take That
Westlife
Amy Winehouse
James Blunt
Coldplay
Kings Of Leon
Hernán
Tanto tiempo, muchacho. Y si, Christina Aguilera QUEEN
RB
Riot Berry
Hace mucho tiempo, desde el cambio ese de CromosomaX, que gusto volverte a leer; lo que todos sabemos, Christina Aguilera QUEEN 👑👑
Dener Mendes
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
Leona Lewis - Spirit
Susan Boyle - I Dreamed a Dream
<3 <3 <3
PC
Paulo Cesar
Glad to see many of Take that and Robbie records!
A
Andres
The Fame!
Slay Gaga