The Official Top 100 biggest albums of the past 10 years revealed

Official Charts crowns Ed Sheeran's ÷ (Divide) the UK's biggest album of the past 10 years (July 2014-present), since streaming was first introduced to the Official Chart.

The Official Albums Chart first began accepting audio streams in March 2015, with video streams counting from January 2023. Today, we can exclusively reveal Ed's third studio album, released in March 2017, is officially the biggest LP of the past ten years, taking into account physical sales, digital downloads and combined audio and video streams.

The former chart-topper, which includes lead single Shape Of You, officially the biggest song of the the past decade, has shifted 4.26 million UK chart units since July 2014, made up of 1.98 million physical, just shy of 500,000 UK downloads and 1.79 million streaming sales equivalent.

MORE: The Top 100 biggest songs of the Official Chart streaming era

Divide famously saw Ed 'break' the Official Chart on its release, causing a change in chart rules forever.

The album completely dominated the Official Singles Chart in its opening week, with all 16 of its tracks present in the Top 20. 

With the release of high-streaming albums beginning to impact the Singles Chart, the Official Charts Company introduced a three-track cap in July 2017, meaning artists would now be limited to three tracks that could simultaneously chart in the Top 100 of the Official Singles Chart; a rule that's still very much in place today.

Divide is the first of five Ed albums to make the list. He also sees X (3), = (28), No.6 Collaborations Project (32) and + (37) inside the Top 100.

At Number 2, we have Adele's third studio LP 25.

Released in 2015, 25 holds the record for the biggest opening week of any album in the UK, having shifted an incredible 800,300 copies in its first chart week. While Oasis's 1997 album Be Here Now sold 813,000 in its first seven days of sales, it's chart eligibility weeks that count toward the record books, meaning Adele's out in front.

Adele also sees two further LPs inside the Top 100: 30 (50) and 21 (53).

MORE: A timeline of 10 years of streaming on the Official Chart

Elsewhere in the Top 5, The Greatest Showman soundtrack lands at Number 4 and is the second most-streamed album on the list, its total made up of 2.8 million UK chart unit total made up of 1.12 million physical sales, 331,000 downloads and 1.35 million streaming sales equivalent.

Sam Smith's debut In The Lonely Hour comes in at Number 5, boasting the title of biggest debut LP of the past 10 years.

In The Lonely Hour was the first-ever Official Number 1 album to have its streams contribute to its total back in 2014, and went on to enjoy six separate spells at the top, logging eight non-consecutive weeks at Number 1.

British acts as a whole prove big beneficiaries of the streaming era, with six artists present inside the Top 10, including Lewis Capaldi with Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent (7), George Ezra with Wanted On Voyage (8) and Jess Glynne's hit-filled I Cry When I Laugh (9).

Another characteristic of the streaming era is music fans delving deep into artists' catalogue, as a result many classic greatest hits compilations make it into the list; Eminem's 2005 release Curtain Call: The Hits places highest (10), closely followed by Elton John's Diamonds (11), ABBA's Gold: Greatest Hits (13) and Queen's Greatest Hits (14).

Inside the wider Top 40, we also see hits collections including Oasis's Time Flies... (1994-2009) (21), Fleetwood Mac's 50 Years - Don't Stop (22) and The Weeknd's The Highlights (30).

The Top 100 biggest albums of the past 10 years:

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