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The Official Top 40 biggest albums of 2020
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Lewis Capaldi’s Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish was the UK’s biggest album for a second year in a row, Official Charts Company data confirms.
Despite a record 43 albums topping the Official Albums Chart across the year, the Scottish musician continued to dominate with his debut collection.
Capaldi’s 2019 debut topped 1 million chart sales in the UK in September, including 456,000 from 2020. The album, which logged 10 weeks at Number 1 – including four in 2020 – racked up an unbroken 77-week run in the Top 10, a record by a solo artist.
The news comes as music industry body the BPI revealed in its end-of-year report that music consumption rose for a sixth consecutive year, with 155 million equivalent albums being streamed or purchased in 2020 – up 8.2% compared to 2019.
MORE: Official Top 40 biggest songs of 2020
Physical sales also proved to be key in landing a chart-topper in 2020. In the majority of weeks (28) in 2020, physical accounted for 50% of chart sales of the Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart.
Harry Styles
Meanwhile, Harry Styles’ second studio album Fine Line – released December 2019 – finishes as the UK’s second-biggest album of 2020 with 293,000 chart sales (363,000 in total). The record enjoyed huge success across the year, boosted by Top 5 summer smash Watermelon Sugar as well as singles Falling and Golden.
The UK’s biggest album released in 2020 is Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia (265k), ranking third place overall. Dua’s second album, which was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize, logged four weeks at Number 1 across April and May.
The UK’s biggest debut album of 2020 is Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon by late US rapper Pop Smoke (222k), ranking sixth on the end-of-year chart. The collection debuted at Number 2 in July and climbed the summit 12 weeks later to become the first chart-topping debut record of the year and the first ever posthumous Number 1 debut album by a solo artist.
Big 2020 Number 1s
Other big chart-topping albums released in 2020 on the end-of-year chart include Eminem’s Music To Be Murdered By (11) and Taylor Swift’s Folklore (12), which scored the longest run at the summit of the year at three weeks.
Lady Gaga
Meanwhile, Juice Wrld’s posthumous Number 1 album Legends Never Die places at 17, Michael Ball & Alfie Boe’s Together At Christmas finishes 18th, Lady Gaga’s Chromatica is at 22, The Weeknd’s After Hours is 23rd, AC/DC’s November chart-topper Power Up is at 26, and Little Mix’s Confetti’s places at 29.
Several popular greatest hits albums also feature in the year-to-date rundown, three of which are in the Top 10: Queen’s Greatest Hits at 8, Elton John’s Diamonds at 9, and Fleetwood Mac’s 50 Years – Don’t Stop at 10.
The Official Top 40 biggest albums of 2020
| TITLE | ARTIST | PEAK | |
| 1 | DIVINELY UNINSPIRED TO A HELLISH EXTENT | LEWIS CAPALDI | 1 |
| 2 | FINE LINE | HARRY STYLES | 3 |
| 3 | FUTURE NOSTALGIA | DUA LIPA | 1 |
| 4 | WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP WHERE DO WE GO | BILLIE EILISH | 1 |
| 5 | HEAVY IS THE HEAD | STORMZY | 1 |
| 6 | SHOOT FOR THE STARS AIM FOR THE MOON | POP SMOKE | 1 |
| 7 | NO 6 COLLABORATIONS PROJECT | ED SHEERAN | 1 |
| 8 | GREATEST HITS | QUEEN | 1 |
| 9 | DIAMONDS | ELTON JOHN | 5 |
| 10 | 50 YEARS - DON'T STOP | FLEETWOOD MAC | 5 |
| 11 | MUSIC TO BE MURDERED BY | EMINEM | 1 |
| 12 | FOLKLORE | TAYLOR SWIFT | 1 |
| 13 | DIVIDE | ED SHEERAN | 1 |
| 14 | RUMOURS | FLEETWOOD MAC | 1 |
| 15 | HOLLYWOOD'S BLEEDING | POST MALONE | 1 |
| 16 | HIGH EXPECTATIONS | MABEL | 3 |
| 17 | LEGENDS NEVER DIE | JUICE WRLD | 1 |
| 18 | TOGETHER AT CHRISTMAS | MICHAEL BALL & ALFIE BOE | 1 |
| 19 | GOLD - GREATEST HITS | ABBA | 1 |
| 20 | LEGEND | BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS | 1 |
| 21 | WHAT'S THE STORY MORNING GLORY | OASIS | 1 |
| 22 | CHROMATICA | LADY GAGA | 1 |
| 23 | AFTER HOURS | WEEKND | 1 |
| 24 | TIME FLIES - 1994-2009 | OASIS | 1 |
| 25 | DUA LIPA | DUA LIPA | 3 |
| 26 | POWER UP | AC/DC | 1 |
| 27 | GET TO KNOW | BECKY HILL | 20 |
| 28 | CURTAIN CALL - THE HITS | EMINEM | 1 |
| 29 | CONFETTI | LITTLE MIX | 2 |
| 30 | DON'T SMILE AT ME | BILLIE EILISH | 12 |
| 31 | LETTER TO YOU | BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN | 1 |
| 32 | BIG CONSPIRACY | J HUS | 1 |
| 33 | DISCO | KYLIE MINOGUE | 1 |
| 34 | 1 | BEATLES | 1 |
| 35 | LEGACY | DAVID BOWIE | 5 |
| 36 | SNACKS | JAX JONES | 9 |
| 37 | LOVER | TAYLOR SWIFT | 1 |
| 38 | WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE | TOM WALKER | 1 |
| 39 | NUMBER ONES | MICHAEL JACKSON | 1 |
| 40 | GOODBYE & GOOD RIDDANCE | JUICE WRLD | 25 |
©2021 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.
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John Jiggler
Eminem=G.O.A.T
Tomi Garbarino
What about Positions by Ariana Grande? The best album pop of 2020... please!
R
RyanT
2020 was Dua Lipa's year! what a fantastic modern pop record with outstanding singles and videos.
Great to see so many classic albums, just goes to show the enduring legacy of these artists
Dayv Morris
Sales are tragic. Even they have 1 billion streaming in Spotify, they cant reach platinum.
NR
Neil Randall
Last album to sell the most 2 years running? 25 by Adele in 2015 & 16. Before that Stars by Simply Red in 1991 & 92.
David Eve
Anyone know whether Capaldi is the biggest actual seller or is it just its streams that are making it no.1?
Alfred Lock
Says a lot when Lewis Capaldi can still outsell everyone else in the absence of guaranteed huge sellers,Adele and Ed Sheeran..I cannot even remember who would have been no.1 in the album.charts that year with a record but very poor 43 albums (mostly 1 week wonders) topping it.
thierry henon
"CHROMATICA" only at 22 and DISCO only at 33!! can't believe it!! and i don't even see the amazing DERMOT KENNEDY there!!
Richard Crampton
Amazing to see greatest hits albums by Queen, Abba and Bob Marley - records released in 1981, 1992 and 1984, respectively, featuring music largely made in the 1970s - in the top 20 biggest albums of 2020. And Rumours by Fleetwood Mac at no. 14! It's a testament to the enduring intergenerational appeal of these artists and an incredible achievement, but at the same time you can't help wishing that today's artists could write and record music that bears comparison. Before anyone says 'OK boomer' I am not in that demographic. I am just a lover of music and songwriting who laments that no-one now could write or produce a song as memorable, or make a recording as good, as 'Bohemian Rhapsody', 'Dancing Queen' or Gerry Rafferty's 'Baker Street'. It's partly because budgets are tighter now and artists often don't have the luxury of spending months in a studio and being able to bring in the best musicians available, but that doesn't explain all of it. As in many other industries, investment has decreased, skills have been lost, and quality has declined. Profit margins are prioritised over artistic development. In the last few weeks, we've seen 30-40 year old hits finally make it to no. 1, because today's artists just don't seem able to write Christmas songs that can hold a candle to the standards. Mariah Carey's song - originally released in 1994 - is the most 'recent' Christmas song to truly be considered a classic. Is that, in anyone's book, a healthy state of affairs?
Laurence Sully
I have to agree totally with this from start to finish - what a wonderfully structured post - I'm 64 next month and today's music and artists are not in the same league as what I've seen and heard since I was a Beatles child back in the 60's ...
S
Stephen
ABBA still a top 30 of the year album - is there a record for being in this list multiple years?
ME
Maria Eduarda
It's funny to see this, because you guys has not put Changes by Justin Bieber and the album is bigger than a lot of those albuns in this list
Mitchell Schmidt
it's really not
Te Whakaara
Lets go amiiiii
M
May
In terms of worldwide, BTS has sold a whopping 5.8 million. Global impact.
Te Whakaara
YAYYYYY AMIII
crunch2k
I'm actually surprised that Lewis Capaldi’s album is only just reaching 1 million in sales, i thought it would of got there ages ago.
new acc - disqus.com/afrog69
I wouldn't be surprised if Lewis Capaldi was the no 1 of 2021 too!
N
Nelly
Find album here https://tinyurl.com/The-Official-Top-40-biggest-al