7/8/16

PLAYLISTICLE: All-Time Best Selling Albums In The U.K.

In celebration of the Sixtieth Anniversary of their album charts this month, the Official Charts Company of the UK unveiled their list of the 60 Best Selling Albums of the Past 60 Years. The list appears below - click on album title to listen on Spotify. For the sake of comparison, I've listed the album's position on the U.S. Top 100 Best Selling Albums Of All Time.

USUK
POSPOSTITLEARTISTYEAR
60Automatic For The PeopleR.E.M.1992
59Never Forget - The Ultimate CollectionTake That2005
58Eyes OpenSnow Patrol2006
57ProgressTake That2010
56Swing When You're WinningRobbie Williams2001
8455The Marshall Mathers LPEminem2000
It should be noted that EVERY album listed in the U.S. column has been certified with at least 10 million copies sold while only one album has sold more than 6 million copies in Britain and it's Number One on this chart. It was released in 1981 and to date has logged more than 729 weeks in the Top 100, where it sits at number 86 for the chart dated July 14, 2016. This marks the album's 55th consecutive week on the chart in this run as the perennial best-seller has logged an astounding 79 different chart runs over th epast thirty-five years, ranging from one brief week many times to 224 weeks straight from July 1983 to October 1987.

54Tango In The NightFleetwood Mac1987
53Ladies & Gentlemen... The Best OfGeorge Michael1998
52The Sound Of MusicOriginal Soundtrack1965
51GracelandPaul Simon1986
50Come Away With MeNorah Jones2002
49XEd Sheerhan2014
The albums ranked in Second and Third Place on the chart are the only other two albums in the first sixty years of British chart history to sell more than 5 million copies. Like the artist in First Place, each of those artists have a second album ranked in the Top 60 as well. All three of those second albums are "greatest hits" compilations.

48I've Been Expecting YouRobbie Williams1998
47GreaseOriginal Soundtrack1977
46Greatest HitsABBA1975
45ParachutesColdplay2000
44Tracy ChapmanTracy Chapman1988
43The Man WhoTravis1999
There are three soundtrack albums in this Top 60: The Sound Of Music at number 52, Grease at number 47 and Dirty Dancing at number 22. Only two groups have three albums apiece in the Top 60: Take That and Coldplay.

42Tubular BellsMike Oldfield1973
1741Jagged Little PillAlanis Morrissette1995
40X&YColdplay2005
39...But SeriouslyPhil Collins1989
38Scissor SistersScissor Sisters2004
37The War Of The WorldsJeff Wayne1978
The oldest album in the countdown is 1965's The Sound Of Music - one of only two albums from the Sixties lsited - and the most recently released album is last year's 25 by Adele, one of four listed albums released since 2010. Overall, the average release year for the Top 60 is 1994 with twenty-four albums being released since the Millenium.

36The Joshua TreeU21987
35Hopes and FearsKeane2004
34Beautiful WorldTake That2006
33Only By The NightKings Of Leon2008
32Life For RentDido2003
31A Rush Of Blood To The HeadColdplay2002
Eighteen of the Top 60 are by artists of U.S. origin. Michael Jackson leads the invasion as one of only two acts with a pair of albums in the Top 10.

30The FameLady Gaga2008
29SpiceSpice Girls1996
28Talk On CornersThe Corrs1997
2725Adele2015
26White LadderDavid Gray1998
25No AngelDido2000
All but five of the Top 60 albums topped the Albums Chart at Number One. One of those albums is in the Top 10 at Number Three. It peaked at Number Two but has spent 474 weeks on the UK Albums Chart and spent more than 700 consecutive weeks on Billboard's Top 200 album chart while selling over 15 million copies in the States. The same group has the third best selling album in the U.S. with a double album that has sold over 23 million yet failed to make the UK list at all.

24Crazy LoveMichael Bublé2009
23SpiritLeona Lewis2007
6622Dirty DancingOriginal Soundtrack1987
21Bridge Over Troubled WaterSimon & Garfunkel1970
69201The Beatles2000
3219Bat Out Of HellMeat Loaf1977
Surprise no shows in the Top 60 are Elton John, Led Zeppelin, Def Leppard, the Bee Gees and AC/DC who have collectively sold more than 350 million albums in the United States.

18Urban HymnsThe Verve1997
17Back To BedlamJames Blunt2004
2316LegendBob Marley & the Wailers1984
915Come On OverShania Twain1997
14StarsSimply Red1991
13Back To BlackAmy Winehouse2006
Surprise artists in the Top 60 from my American perspective are R.E.M., Snow Patrol, Tracy Chapman, Travis, Scissor Sisters, Kings Of Leon, David Gray, Michael Bublé and James Blunt.

9712The Immaculate CollectionMadonna1990
811RumoursFleetwood Mac1977
10Greatest Hits IIQueen1991
9BadMichael Jackson1987
8Brothers In ArmsDire Straits1985
267The Dark Side Of The MoonPink Floyd1973
There are nine greatest hits compilations in the Top 60, including the two each by Queen and ABBA I alluded to earlier. The Number One album on the list has sold more than 8 million copies in the U.S. while the Number Two album has sold over 6 million copies - both albums are the U.S. best sellers of their respective artists and personal favorites of the soft rock kid.

16ThrillerMichael Jackson1982
5(What's the Story) Morning Glory?Oasis1995
56421Adele2011
683Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandThe Beatles1967
2Gold - Greatest HitsABBA1992
1Greatest HitsQueen1981

One last thing: as of 2010, there were 65 million people in the UK, meaning there was one copy of Queen's Greatest Hits for every 10 people. The best selling album in the States - ranked at number 6 on this list - would work out to one copy of Thriller for every 10 Americans as well despite the fact that the US has five times the population of the U.K.

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