Best-Selling Albums of All-Time (5160) Linkin Park Hybrid Theory 12 million. First week album sales: 29,000 Billboard 200 position: 12 Singles: "Decades", "Tetris", "Therapy Music", "Vinyl Days", "Orville", "Bleed It", "Breath Control" Features: Wiz Khalifa, Action Bronson, Russ, The Game, Royce da 5'9, RZA, DJ Premier, Currensy, Langston Bristol, Doc D, iamJMARS, Big Lenbo, C Dot Castro, Nezi Momodu, Like, Blu, Exile, AZ. In 2014 Billboard began to take streaming into account for first week sales and total album sales. 14. The first few weeks after the initial release of an album (thats obvious); Christmas time: in the lead up to Christmas album sales increase exponentially; Grammy time: in the week after the Grammy ceremony album sales increase; After the death of a major celebrity, people seem to go out in droves to purchase an artists past catalogue, almost as a way to show respect to the artist or maybe as a way to hold on to something from their past. Various songs were discussed to be the big one but Kevin Costner ended up suggesting I Will Always Love You by Dolly Parton. Once again, Apple Music is the music platform with the most paid subscribers in the US, and its dominated by rap/R&B. Each of its five singles, with three of them being international chart toppers. ROALD DAHL'S MATILDA THE MUSICAL. The debut studio album by American rock band Linkin Park has sold over 11m copies in the US alone. "Midnights," Swift's 10th studio album, has blown past the seven-digit milestone just four days after its release, racking up 1.3 million equivalent album units in the US. I understand, you milk it while the getting is good, but with The Beatles its always good, though this almost feels like cheating. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are as essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. "25," the third album by Adele, sold 3,378,000 copies in the first week after its release handily breaking a single-week record that was previously set by *NSYNC in 2000. the late 90s/early aughts were a high point for music sales in general. The past year has . The success of the album led to an 18 month worldwide tour and a VHS and DVD release of the tour. The numbers mark the biggest first week for an album since . 5. Its a tough juggling act. Written by James Horner and Will Jennings, and serving as the love theme for James Camerons blockbuster film Titanic. "The Marshall Mathers LP," Eminem's third album, sold 1,760,000 copies in the first week after its release. It comes as no surprise. When you downloaded a single, you still had no right to take a look at the rest of the album. Bruce Springsteen Born In The U.S.A. 1984) 30m Beyonc 's Renaissance blasts in at No. (Pretty Young Thing), and Thriller all of which reached the top 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. Michael Jackson 's Thriller, estimated to have sold 70 million copies worldwide, is the best-selling album ever. 25 eventually gave Adele the worlds best-selling album of 2015, with 17.4 million copies sold and has gone on to sell over 22 million copies worldwide. But amazon is also paid and its dominated by pop and country. This is partly due to a big growth in users across Asian markets like India, Japan and Indonesia. Produced by rock super-producer Robert John Mutt Lange who demanded perfection, it has sold an estimated 50 million copies worldwide. 28. Led Zeppelin themselves called it a fully realized hybrid of the folk and hard-rock directions.. The World's Biggest First Week Album Sales | by Sheldon Rocha Leal, PhD | Medium 500 Apologies, but something went wrong on our end. Top Album Sales Week of March 4, 2023 This Week Award i Last Week Peak Pos. A: Only albums that make the top 50 in sales+streaming for their debut week are counted. Those numbers make it one of thefastest-selling records of all time, or more accurately, sinceSoundscan started tracking sales in 1991. Madonna Like a Virgin (1984) 21m The Official Top 40 Biggest Albums of 2022 - Official Charts Company This Top 50 is for studio albums only and doesnt include any Greatest Hits, Soundtracks or compilation albums. For example Bad Bunny and Jack Harlow were added today! The 20 Best Selling Hip-Hop Albums Of All Time s.parentNode.insertBefore(gcse, s); This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Richie's second solo studio album has sold over 20 million copies. Among the 17 tracks, this double set contains the hits Candle in the Wind, Bennie and the Jets, Saturday Nights Alright for Fighting and the title track. Theres also situations where double-length albums count as two sales. Its been re-printed and re-issued countless times, as recently as 2014, helping boost the sales numbers. Naturally, the leader of urban music comes on top. Certified Lover Boy, Scorpion,More Life, andViewsbyDrakeall drop a lot of spots as they include from 20 to 25 songs. Just topples everyone, he would have 3 top, first week sales if encore was counted right. See 20 of the Biggest First-Week Hip-Hop Album Sales Over the Years Aftermath Entertainment / Interscope Records Eminem, The Marshall Mathers LP Release Date: May 23, 2000 First-Week. I really have no clue how shes gonna perform in the streaming age. Eagles Their Greatest Hits (19711975) has recently surpassed Michael Jacksons Thriller as the number-one best selling album of all time. 43. Falling into You remains one of the best-selling albums of all time, with sales of over thirty-two million copies and won many awards around the world, including Grammy Award for Album of the Year and Best Pop Album at the 39th annual ceremony. It worked, big time. As you can expect, the likes Drake and Ariana Grande recorded several of the top album debuts on Spotify, but many more are performing incredibly well. "1," a post-breakup compilation album by The Beatles, sold 1,259,000 copies in the week ending December 24, 2000, six weeks after its release. As many as 3 pop albums feature inside the Top 10 with Ed Sheeran , Ariana Grande and recently released Sour by Olivia Rodrigo. (And allow me to point out and/or bring the correction; she spells/writes her name Morissette with two s', Thriller is the bestselling album ever. Linkin Park Hybrid Theory (2000) 32m 2 on Global 200. The title of the album was thought up by drummer Rick Allen, referring to his 1984 car accident and the ensuing worldwide media coverage surrounding it. Divide takes a marginal lead here ahead of Purpose with 18.2% of Spotifys active users streaming it in full one time during its debut week. Released in 1982, it was a weird transition time for music when Disco and Funk were on the way out and Rock and Pop were on the way in. Ace of Base Happy Nation/The Sign (1992) 23m With guest backing vocalists, including Helen Terry, Peter Gabriel and Sting the singles Sussudio and One More Night both reached number one on the US chart. Michael Jackson, thriller, bad and dangerous. Back in Black came out in 1980 at the height of the reign of Hard Rock, marking AC/DCs 7th studio album and the first with their new vocalist Brian Johnson. Whilst this is not ideal, the albums for which I could not obtain worldwide figures, after further investigation, were not really big outside their country of origin, therefore, the quoted sales accounted for the majority of their worldwide sales in their debut week. You were probably waiting on The Beatles to make an appearance. meaningful, its still arguably better to get 25 songs streamed one time Eminem's "Revival" had his worst first week since "The Slim Shady LP" in 1999. It won Album of the Year from the Grammys, British Album of the Year from the Brit Award, and many more accolades. The album became one of the best-selling albums in history. In the 30+ years since, only 22 albums have sold at least 1 million copies in one week. Just like older albums are higher on this list, the recent ones are lower. Three singles were released from the album, each reaching high in the Billboard Hot 100: New Kid in Town (number one), Hotel California (number one), and Life in the Fast Lane (number 11). "Black & Blue," the fourth album by Backstreet Boys, sold 1,591,000 copies in the first week after its release. Finally Springsteen became as powerful in the studio as he always had been on stage. The title song became one of the most performed songs of the twentieth century, with over 50 artists, among them Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin, covering the song. On average, each Spotify user streamed slightly over 3 songs from the album during its first week. Whitney Houston in 1993 and Taylor Swift in 2018. Official Albums Sales Chart Top 100. When we go deeper on numbers, we notice these records are often stronger thanks to high streams from the entire tracklist. It reached number one in nineteen countries and sold just under 4m copies in the US in the first month after release. Boyd Elder made the album cover from a plastic cast of a real eagle skull. 41. After taking a seven-year hiatus from the music business, Justin Timberlake crooned his way back to the Billboard charts this week, selling a whopping 968,000 copies ofThe 20/20 Experiencein its first week of release. We're only talking about projects that sold massively out the gate. Simon & Garfunkel Bridge over Troubled Water (1970) 25m Sgt. Trivia Facts: The album was delayed over the conversation of whether it should be released as a double album or even a set of EPs. The 25 Biggest First-Week Album Sales in Music History MINIONS - THE RISE OF GRU. Divide by British superstar Ed Sheeran is a close runner up with almost 3 streams per user. Eminem, G-Unit & Nelly continue to dominate. Celine Dion Falling into You (1997) 32m The band members are among the richest musicians in the world and even funded the production of the Monty Python and the Holy Grail movie with the proceeds. Trivia Facts: Thriller marked the first time Michael Jackson reached the top of the Billboard 200, back when it was called the Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart. These areThe 25 Biggest First-Week Album Sales in Music History. The album contained 16 tracks and 12 of them were promoted as singles over the course of three years. Normal artists will usually take a protracted time before their albums are certified, gold, platinum or diamond, but the sales of these mega albums are so large that they obtain instantaneous certifications. At one stage that would have been a tall ask, but now we have had 22 artists that have achieved that feat, most of them in the new millennium. This is a continuation of a post I made last year. "The Life Of Pablo" marks the first time in his career that a Kanye album does not have a top five debut week. Spotify's All Time Top Album Debuts - ChartMasters Drama in the music industry is fun! The song Bad was meant to be a duet between Michael and Prince. On June 20, "Yet to Come" ranked No. 8. 36. The latters Made In The A.M. reached that incredible milestone, while at the same time the formersPurpose went through the roof, topping 200 million. It is also interesting to note that female artists dominate the Top 30, with 14 positions occupied by solo female artists. One album from 2020 joined the list (Legends Never Die) and bumped off Get Rich Or Die Tryin OST. Older albums with re-releases or resurgences of popularity also have clear advantages. Lets Talk About Love includes Celine Dions biggest hit, My Heart Will Go On. Trivia Facts: In 2013, this album has been preserved by the Library of Congress in the National Recording Registry for being culturally significant. all. I'm going to guess that Dr. Dre's "The Chronic", Beastie Boys' "Check Your Head", Too $hort's "Shorty the Pimp", MC Ren's "Kizz My Black Azz", and Ice Cube's "The Predator" (193K) round out the top 5. With over 510k copies sold in its first week, the album shot straight to the top of the Billboard 200. Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, and Eminem trail with two apiece. The album lodged 35 weeks atop the Irish Albums Chart, the longest in the charts history. So if you took US Spotify charts and separated it, Im willing to bet it is pop that sees harder falls while rap gains. The record was a commercial success, charting at number-one in the US for 15 weeks. By 1991, Bad was the second-best-selling album of all time at the time, behind Thriller, having sold 25 million copies worldwide. The band and studio had an open budget, which meant they did a lot of goofing off, which delayed the release of the album. And the biggest benefit goes to compilations and greatest hits records that are full of hit singles. Then, what happens when we mix both factors, the number of songs by album and Spotifys MAU? Her label certainly wants to push pure sales with her history in that segment, but I wouldnt count out a really big streaming debut. Bon Jovi Slippery When Wet (1986) 28m "25" went on to sell 1,160,000 copies in its second week and 1,190,000 in its fifth week. The lyrics were printed in full on the back cover, the first time this had been done on a rock LP. So 34k rather than 125k. The album sold a whopping 1.7 million copies. Sour was available to way more people thanPurpose, for example. Her debut studio album received Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album; the song Dont Know Why won Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Swift is the only artist in history to have five different albums with million-selling weeks. Max Weinberg played drums on the record. Michael Jackson's 1982 . Nielsen Music started tracking point-of-sales data for US music releases in 1991. It topped the Billboard 200 and became the best-selling debut album of all time, as well as the eleventh best-selling album of all time in the United States. 2000 - A new millennium and the rise of Eminem. Tapestry received four Grammy Awards in 1972, including Album of the Year and the lead singles from the album Its Too Late/I Feel the Earth Move spent five weeks at number one on the US chart. Adele's '30' Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 - Billboard The Top 100 Best Selling Albums of All Time - Digital Music News Celine Dion has three albums, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Britney Spears, Madonna, Eminem, Adele and Michael Jackson all have two albums each in the list. Sky is the limit for J-Hope, Jimin, Jin, Jungkook, RM, Suga, and V. Since their 2013 debut, their sales figures keep booming album after album. Also despite female rappers being really dominant recently and Doja, cardi b and nicki all either being confirmed or likely to drop albums this upcoming year idk if any of them will make the top 5 for the year, just wondering, are you not counting post malone as hip hop? It has now reached a point that if an artist wants to be eligible for the Top 20 they need to have shipped over 2.1 million units in one week. The transatlantic pop rock band Fleetwood Macs 11th studio album won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1978, Rumours has since sold over 40 million copies worldwide, assisted by the hit songs Go Your Own Way, Dreams, Dont Stop, and You Make Loving Fun. It came out in 1977 and is a purely Disco album, almost entirely by the Bee Gees. That didnt work out, and she suffered a breakup, and wrote this, another tragedian masterpiece. Michael Jackson Thriller (1982) 66m After topping the Billboard 200 chart in its first week with 359,000 copies sold, the singer's MDNA is expected to suffer an 88 percent drop in sales to 46,000 units, according to Forbes. Oasis (Whats the Story) Morning Glory? The 50 Biggest First Week Album Sales In Hip Hop History No filler on this album! 35. The 10 Highest Selling Hip-Hop Albums Of All Time This list seems suspect to me. (Remember Me)| 1997| 549K 37| Jay-Z| The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse| 2002| 545K 38| D12| D12 World| 2004| 544K 39| Drake| If You're Reading This It's Too Late| 2015| 535K 40| Outkast| Stankonia| 2000| 530K 41| Jay-Z| Magna Carta Holy Grail| 2013| 527K 42| T.I.| King| 2006| 522K 43| Snoop Dogg| Da Game Is to Be Sold, Not to Be Told| 1998| 520K 44| Dr. Dre| 2001| 1999| 516K 45| J. Cole| 4 Your Eyez Only| 2016| 511K 46| Outkast| Speakerboxxx/The Love Below| 2003| 510K 47| Drake| More Life| 2017| 505K 48| Juice WRLD| Legends Never Die|2020|497K 49| Kanye West| My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy| 2010| 496K 50| Master P| MP Da Last Don| 1998| 495K 51| The Notorious B.I.G.| Born Again| 1999| 485K 52| Lil Wayne | Tha Carter V | 2018 | 480K 53| Snoop Dogg| Tha Doggfather| 1996| 479K 54| Jay-Z| The Blueprint 3| 2009| 476K 55| Nas| I Am| 1999| 470K 56| T.I.| T.I. In other news, the title track "Yet to Come" in BTS' anthology album "Proof" debuted on this week's Billboard 200 and Global Excl. Music industry One step closer to being accurate. With the bar for the list set as high as 79 million are big consistent streams of the entire album needed in most cases to get so high numbers. G-Unit's "Beg for Mercy" debuted with 377K. The album's first-week performance reflects that. The Dark Side of the Moon reached number-one on the US Billboard chart and has charted for over 900 weeks in total. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. 57 million of these came from Old Town Roads two versions, The biggest EP debut belongs to The Weeknd though with My Dear Melancholy which contains just 6 original tracks. Thank You 4 Your Service. So we took a look back in history at the 50 biggest first week album sales of all time - featuring multiple albums from Eminem, 50 Cent, Jay-Z, Drake, Lil Wayne, Kanye, Snoop Dogg and more. 46. While it topped none of the previous lists, Divides 22. You can attribute the success to three things: its a double album so the sales count twice, the movie was great, and the Bee Gees were on top of the game at the time. He was paid $5,000 for his work (too bad he got no royalties). The anthology album impressively racked up sales of 514,000 units in its first week. Led Zeppelin IV was their pinnacle achievement from 1971, focused on Hard Rock, Folk Rock, and pre-cursor Heavy Metal sounds. In 1977, Fleetwood Mac released Rumours to the Soft Rock crowd, but obviously it had great mass appeal. Another interesting fact is that Asian artists, mainly from Japan and South Korea, have placed 16 albums on the list, indicating a growing worldwide appetite for Asian music and exhibiting their dominance on the list. It was a long-time coming, being their 8th studio album. This led 300 million, 400 million, and 500 million first week streams barriers to be broken. Due to Tidal not reporting streaming numbers, Jay-Z's "4:44" is his first album since "In My Lifetime, Vol. Backstreet Boys Millennium (1999) 24m The eighth studio album by Michael Jackson dominated worldwide charts reaching number-one in over 10 countries, helped along by his worldwide number-one hit single Black or White. Check https://chartmasters.org/spotify-top-album-debuts/?view=country&country_code2=WW. There are albums which got less than 79 million streams a long time ago that could have done well in a weighted list. The third solo studio album by English drummer and singer-songwriter Phil Collins sold over twelve million copies in the US, and in the UK, over two million copies. This record won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year and went 18x Platinum. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. adjusted for that, idk if Drake would be on level playing field, but it wouldn't be as crazy. Green Day has sold more than 85 million records worldwide. "Yet to Come" has now spent 11 days in a row on the chart. COMPLEX participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means COMPLEX gets paid commissions on purchases made through our links to retailer sites. Bad came out in 1987, at a time when Rock was on the way out and Pop and R&B were taking over.