List of best-selling albums by year in the United Kingdom explained

This is a list of the best-selling albums in the United Kingdom each year. The sales figures given are only within that year, but each album has sold more copies overall.

Best-selling albums by year

Year	Album	Artist	Number sold	Ref
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1956	Carousel	Original soundtrack		align=center rowspan="39"
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1957	The King and I
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1958	My Fair Lady	Broadway Cast recording
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1959	South Pacific	Original soundtrack
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1960
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1961	G.I. Blues	Elvis Presley
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1962	West Side Story	Original soundtrack
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1963	With the Beatles	The Beatles
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1964	Beatles for Sale
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1965	The Sound of Music	Original soundtrack
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1966
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1967	Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band	The Beatles	751,000
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1968	The Sound of Music	Original soundtrack
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1969	Abbey Road	The Beatles
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1970	Bridge over Troubled Water	Simon and Garfunkel
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1971
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1972	20 Dynamic Hits	Various Artists
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1973	Aladdin Sane	David Bowie
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1974		The Carpenters
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1975	The Best of the Stylistics	The Stylistics
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1976	Greatest Hits	ABBA
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1977	Arrival
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1978	Saturday Night Fever	Original soundtrack
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1979	Parallel Lines	Blondie
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1980	Super Trouper	ABBA
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1981	Kings of the Wild Frontier	Adam and the Ants
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1982	Love Songs	Barbra Streisand
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1983	Thriller	Michael Jackson
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1984	Can't Slow Down	Lionel Richie
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1985	Brothers in Arms	Dire Straits
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1986	True Blue	Madonna
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1987	Bad	Michael Jackson
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1988	Kylie	Kylie Minogue
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1989	Ten Good Reasons	Jason Donovan
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1990	...But Seriously	Phil Collins
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1991	Stars	Simply Red
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1992
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1993		Meat Loaf
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1994	Cross Road	Bon Jovi
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1995	Robson & Jerome	Robson & Jerome	2,040,000	^[1]
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1996	Jagged Little Pill	Alanis Morissette	1,627,000	^[2]
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1997	Be Here Now	Oasis	1,740,000
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1998	Talk on Corners	The Corrs	1,676,439	align=center rowspan="5"	^[3]
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1999	Come On Over	Shania Twain	2,201,842
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2000	1	The Beatles	1,850,101
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2001	No Angel	Dido	1,920,167
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2002	Escapology	Robbie Williams	1,410,931
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2003	Life for Rent	Dido	2,168,302	^[4]
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2004	Scissor Sisters	Scissor Sisters	1,594,259	align=center
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2005	Back to Bedlam	James Blunt	2,367,758	^[5]
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2006	Eyes Open	Snow Patrol	1,514,554	align=center rowspan="2"
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2007	Back to Black	Amy Winehouse	1,883,897
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2008	Rockferry	Duffy	1,685,000	^[6]
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2009	I Dreamed a Dream	Susan Boyle	1,632,732	^[7]
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2010	Progress	Take That	1,841,148	^[8]
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2011	21	Adele	3,772,346	^[9]
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2012	Our Version of Events		1,393,000	^[10]
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2013	Midnight Memories	One Direction	685,000	^[11]
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2014	x		1,689,000	^[12]
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2015	25	Adele	2,496,000	^[13]
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2016			753,000	^[14]
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2017	÷	Ed Sheeran	2,700,000	^[15]
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2018		Original soundtrack	1,600,000	^[16]
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2019	Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent	Lewis Capaldi	641,000	^[17]
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2020			456,000	^[18]
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2021	30	Adele	600,000	^[19]
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2022	Harry's House	Harry Styles	460,000	^[20]
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2023	The Highlights	The Weeknd	391,000	^[21]

Best-selling albums by decade

Decade	Album	Artist(s)	Number sold	Ref
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1950s		Original soundtrack
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1960s		The Beatles
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1970s		Simon & Garfunkel
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1980s		Dire Straits
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1990s		Oasis	3,000,000	^[22]
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2000s		James Blunt	3,200,000	^[23]
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2010s		Adele	5,170,000	^[24]

See also

• List of best-selling singles by year in the United Kingdom
• List of best-selling compilation albums by year in the United Kingdom

Notes and References

1. Web site: The biggest selling album of every year since 1956 (see relevant year). Official Charts Company. 5 July 2016. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20160913172922/http://www.officialcharts.com/galleries/the-biggest-selling-album-of-every-year-since-1956/?14989. 13 September 2016.
2. Web site: Looking back at Jagged Little Pill, which hit Number 1 20 years ago. officialcharts.com. 27 April 2018. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20160901211018/http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/alanis-morissettes-jagged-little-pill-hit-number-1-20-years-ago-this-week__14770/. 1 September 2016.
3. Sales: Music Week (Best selling albums 1998–2008), pub. 17 January 2009
4. News: Eminem and Now! 62 lead albums sales. Jones. Alan. 12 December 2005. Music Week. Intent Media. 24 October 2015. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20151001061240/http://www.musicweek.com/news/read/eminem-and-now-62-lead-albums-sales/028984. 1 October 2015.
5. News: From 21 to 3 million - Adele crunches the numbers. Jones. Alan. 15 September 2011. Music Week. Intent Media. 24 October 2015. subscription . live. https://web.archive.org/web/20180427012727/http://www.musicweek.com/news/read/from-21-to-3-million-adele-crunches-the-numbers/046688. 27 April 2018.
6. News: Take That, Alexandra Burke Rule UK charts. Sexton. Paul. 29 December 2008. Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. 31 January 2016. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20130414030022/http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/1481210/take-that-alexandra-burke-rule-uk-charts. 14 April 2013.
7. Web site: 2009: being Boyled . . 3 February 2010 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20100627133524/http://www.musicweek.com/story.asp?sectioncode=2&storycode=1039597 . 27 June 2010.
8. Web site: Eminem/Rihanna & Take That scoop 2010 crowns . Official Charts Company . . 2011-01-03 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20111126191945/http://www.theofficialcharts.com/chart-news/cardle-at-no-1-again-eminemrihanna-take-that-scoop-2010-crowns/ . 26 November 2011.
9. Web site: Jones. Alan. Christmas Album Chart analysis: Buble dominates with 317k weekly sales. 25 December 2011. Music Week. Intent Media. 25 December 2011. subscription . live. https://web.archive.org/web/20120725131124/http://www.musicweek.com/news/read/christmas-album-chart-analysis-buble-dominates-with-317k-weekly-sales/047672. 25 July 2012.
10. Web site: The Official Top 40 Biggest Selling Albums of 2012 revealed!. Lane. Dan. 2 January 2012. Official Charts Company. 2 January 2012. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20130119105038/http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/the-official-top-40-biggest-selling-albums-of-2012-revealed-1785/. 19 January 2013.
11. Web site: The Official Top 40 Biggest Selling Artist Albums of 2013!. Lane. Dan. 1 January 2014. Official Charts Company. 1 January 2014. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20140218110807/http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/the-official-top-40-biggest-artist-albums-of-2013-2708/. 18 February 2014.
12. Web site: The Official Top 40 Biggest Selling Artist Albums of 2014 . Moss . Liv . 1 January 2015 . . 10 January 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150101030807/http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/the-official-top-40-biggest-selling-artist-albums-of-2014-3387/ . 1 January 2015.
13. Web site: The Official Top 40 Biggest Albums of 2015 revealed. Copsey. Rob. 6 January 2016. Official Charts Company. 6 January 2016. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20160105162856/http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/the-official-top-40-biggest-artist-albums-of-2015-revealed__13273/. 5 January 2016.
14. Web site: The Official Top 40 Biggest Albums of 2016 revealed. Copsey. Official Charts Company. 31 December 2016. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20161230192414/http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/the-official-top-40-biggest-albums-of-2016__17580/. 30 December 2016.
15. Web site: The Top 40 biggest albums of 2017 on the Official Chart. Official Charts Company. White. Jack. 3 January 2018. 3 January 2018. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20180103181314/http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/the-top-40-biggest-albums-of-2017-on-the-official-chart__21316/ . 3 January 2018.
16. Web site: The Official Top 40 biggest albums of 2018. Official Charts Company. White. Jack. 3 January 2019. 3 January 2019. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20190103210308/https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/the-official-top-40-biggest-albums-of-2018__22461/ . 3 January 2019.
17. Web site: The Official Top 40 biggest albums of 2019 . Official Charts Company. White. Jack. 1 January 2020. 1 January 2020. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20190103210308/https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/the-official-top-40-biggest-albums-of-2019__28073/ . 3 January 2019.
18. Web site: Lewis Capaldi and The Weeknd among best-selling artists in the UK as streaming and physical music sales soar in 2020. Sam Moore. NME.com. 4 January 2021. 4 January 2021.
19. Web site: The Official Top 40 biggest albums of 2021 . Official Charts Company. Griffiths. George. 4 January 2022. 4 January 2022.
20. Web site: The Official Top 40 biggest albums of 2022. Official Charts Company. Smith. Carl. 4 January 2023. 4 January 2023.
21. Web site: The Official Top 40 Biggest Albums of 2023. Official Charts Company. Griffiths. George. 3 January 2023. 3 January 2023.
22. Web site: The chart impact and mega sales of Oasis' second album (What's the Story) Morning Glory . Official Charts Company. Myers. Justin. 3 October 2018. 3 October 2018.
23. Web site: Will Young and James Blunt win biggest selling single and album of the noughties . NME. Fullerton. Jamie. 31 December 2009. 31 December 2009. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20180914060730/https://www.nme.com/news/music/will-young-9-1299535 . 14 September 2018.
24. Web site: Copsey . Rob . The UK's Official Top 100 biggest albums of the decade 2010 – 2019 . Official Charts Company . 11 December 2019 . 11 December 2019. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20191211082651/https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/the-uks-official-top-100-biggest-albums-of-the-decade-2010-2019__27937/ . 11 December 2019.