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List of best-selling albums by year in the United States

This is a list of the best-selling albums by year in the United States, published by American music magazine Billboard since 1956 as year-end rankings of album sales. Until 1991, the Billboard album chart was based on a survey of representative retail outlets that determined a ranking, not a tally of actual sales. Weekly surveys and year-end charts by Billboard and other publications such as now defunct Cash Box magazine sometimes differed. For instance, during the 1960s and 1970s, the number-one album as determined by these two publications differed in 10 out of 20 years. From 1992 onwards, the Billboard year-end and weekly charts were calculated by Nielsen SoundScan. Note that this slightly differs from prior Billboard year-end album charts, which were a measure of chart performances over twelve months from around December to November (cutoff determined by Billboard's publication schedule) rather than actual total sales. In addition, certain additions post-2015 may differ from best-selling albums in the United States of the Nielsen SoundScan era, which includes album-equivalent units by means of streaming.[2]

Taylor Swift is the first and only artist to garner the best-selling album of the year eight times. Swift is also the only artist to have the annual top-selling album in three separate decades (2000s, 2010s and 2020s in her case).[1]

Harry Belafonte's Calypso (1956) was the first record to be recognized as a year's top-selling album by Billboard, when it started tracking sales figures. American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift is the first and only artist to have eight of their albums become best-selling records of their respective years. She accomplished it with Fearless (2009), 1989 (2014), Reputation (2017), Lover (2019), Folklore (2020), Midnights (2022), 1989 (Taylor's Version) (2023) and The Tortured Poets Department (2024). American acts Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, and Eminem, and British acts Elton John and Adele, have had two of their albums be the top-sellers in two separate years. American singer Michael Jackson's 1982 Thriller became the best-selling record in the country for two consecutive years in the 1980s. Other albums to achieve the same accomplishment included the My Fair Lady Original Cast Recording from the hit 1956 Broadway production between 1957 and 1958, the original soundtrack of West Side Story between 1962 and 1963, and Adele's 21 between 2011 and 2012. The Spice Girls are the only female group to appear on the list. Their debut album "Spice" was the best-selling album of 1997.

1950s

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Harry Belafonte's Calypso was labeled the US's top-selling record of 1956.
Year[I]Artist(s)NationalityAlbumRef.
1951Yma Sumac  PeruVoice of the Xtabay[3]
1956Harry Belafonte  United StatesCalypso[4]
1957Original Broadway CastMy Fair Lady[5]
1958[6]
1959Henry ManciniMusic from Peter Gunn[7]

1960s

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West Side Story's soundtrack was the best-selling album for two consecutive years.
YearArtist(s)NationalityAlbumRef.
1960Original Broadway Cast–The Sound of Music[8]
1961Camelot[9]
1962SoundtrackWest Side Story[10]
1963[11]
1964Original Broadway CastHello, Dolly![12]
1965SoundtrackMary Poppins[13]
1966Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass  United StatesWhipped Cream & Other Delights[14]
1967The MonkeesMore of The Monkees[15]
1968The Jimi Hendrix ExperienceAre You Experienced?[16]
1969Iron ButterflyIn-A-Gadda-Da-Vida[17]

1970s

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Two of Elton John's albums each became the best-selling record in the 1970s.
Year[I]Performing artist(s)NationalityAlbumRef.
1970Simon and Garfunkel  United StatesBridge over Troubled Water[18]
1971Various Artists–Jesus Christ Superstar[19]
1972Neil Young  CanadaHarvest[20]
1973War  United StatesThe World Is a Ghetto[21]
1974Elton John  United KingdomGoodbye Yellow Brick Road[22]
1975Elton John's Greatest Hits[23]
1976Peter Frampton  United Kingdom /  United StatesFrampton Comes Alive[24]
1977Fleetwood MacRumours[25]
1978Soundtrack / Bee Gees–Saturday Night Fever[26]
1979Billy Joel  United States52nd Street[27]

1980s

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Michael Jackson's Thriller was the best-selling album for two years in a row.
Year[I]Performing artist(s)NationalityAlbumRef.
1980Pink Floyd  United KingdomThe Wall[28]
1981REO Speedwagon  United StatesHi Infidelity[29]
1982Asia  United KingdomAsia[30]
1983Michael Jackson  United StatesThriller[31]
1984[32]
1985Bruce SpringsteenBorn in the U.S.A.[33]
1986Whitney Houston Whitney Houston[34]
1987Michael JacksonBad[35]
1988George Michael  United KingdomFaith[36]
1989Bobby Brown  United StatesDon't Be Cruel[37]

1990s

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Whitney Houston had the best-selling albums of 1986 and 1993, with her self-titled debut studio album and the soundtrack of The Bodyguard, respectively.
Year[I]Performing artist(s)NationalityAlbumSalesRef.
1990
Janet Jackson  United StatesJanet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814
NA[note 1]
[38]
1991
Garth Brooks Ropin' the Wind[note 2]4,000,000[39]
Mariah CareyMariah Carey[note 3]3,380,000[40]
1992Billy Ray CyrusSome Gave All4,832,000[41]
1993Whitney Houston (Soundtrack)–The Bodyguard5,460,000[42]
1994Elton John (Soundtrack)–The Lion King4,934,000[43]
1995Hootie & the Blowfish  United StatesCracked Rear View7,020,000[44][45]
1996Alanis Morissette  CanadaJagged Little Pill7,380,000[46]
1997Spice Girls  United KingdomSpice5,302,000[47]
1998James Horner / Soundtrack–Titanic9,338,000[46]
1999Backstreet Boys  United StatesMillennium9,445,732[48]

2000s

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Eminem is the only rapper to have achieved the best-seller of the year twice; The Eminem Show and Recovery were the best-selling albums of 2002 and 2010, respectively.
Year[I]Performing artist(s)NationalityAlbumSalesRef.
2000NSYNC  United StatesNo Strings Attached9,936,000[46]
2001Linkin ParkHybrid Theory4,813,000[46]
2002EminemThe Eminem Show7,608,000[49]
200350 CentGet Rich or Die Tryin'6,536,000[50]
2004UsherConfessions7,979,000[51]
2005Mariah CareyThe Emancipation of Mimi4,969,000[52]
2006Various artists–High School Musical3,719,000[53]
2007Josh Groban  United StatesNoël3,699,000[54]
2008Lil WayneTha Carter III2,874,000[55]
2009Taylor SwiftFearless3,217,000[56]

2010s

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Adele's 21, 25, and 30 were the best-selling albums of 2011-2012, 2015, and 2021, respectively.
Year[I]Performing artist(s)NationalityAlbumSalesRef.
2010Eminem  United StatesRecovery3,415,000[57]
2011Adele  United Kingdom215,824,000[58]
20124,410,000[59]
2013Justin Timberlake  United StatesThe 20/20 Experience2,430,000[60]
2014Taylor Swift19893,661,000[61]
2015Adele  United Kingdom257,441,000[62]
2016Drake  CanadaViews4,140,000[63]
2017Taylor Swift  United StatesReputation1,903,000[64]
2018Various artistsN/AThe Greatest Showman1,491,000[65]
2019Taylor Swift  United StatesLover1,085,000[66]

2020s

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Year[I]Performing artist(s)NationalityAlbumSalesRef.
2020Taylor Swift  United StatesFolklore1,276,000[67]
2021Adele  United Kingdom301,464,000[68]
2022Taylor Swift  United StatesMidnights1,818,000
[1]
20231989 (Taylor's Version)1,975,000
[69]

Notes

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  1. ^ Annual album sales data have been revealed by Billboard since after 1992.
  2. ^ Ropin' the Wind was the best-selling album of 1991 according to a 1992 article by the Los Angeles Times.
  3. ^ Mariah Carey was the best-selling album of 1991 according to a 2019 article by The Independent.

^[I] Each year is linked to the article about music that year.

  • After Billboard began obtaining sales and airplay information from Nielsen SoundScan and Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems, the year-end charts are now calculated by a very straightforward cumulative total of yearlong sales points. This gives a more accurate picture of any given year's most popular titles, as an entry that hypothetically spent nine weeks at number one in March could possibly have earned fewer cumulative points than one spending six weeks at number three in January. Albums at the peak of their popularity at the time of the November/December chart-year cutoff many times end up ranked lower than expected on a year-end tally, yet are ranked on the following year's chart as well, as their cumulative points are split between the two chart years. Sometimes, the best-selling album of the year by Billboard is different than best-selling album of the year of Nielsen SoundScan, because Billboard calculates the year from December to November and Nielsen calculates the year from January to December.
  • In this list, from 1956 to 1991, the Billboard year-end tracking was used. From 1992 to date, Nielsen SoundScan's year-end tracking was used.
  • Since 2015, Billboard and MRC Data (formerly Nielsen SoundScan) used album-equivalent units to determine the year's top albums, thus there is a discrepancy between the best-selling album (based on pure sales) and the best-performing album (based on sales+streaming). For information regarding the best-selling albums in the MRC Data era (from 1991 to present), see List of best-selling albums in the United States of the Nielsen SoundScan era.

See also

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References

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  2. ^ Caulfield, Keith (January 7, 2021). "Lil Baby's 'My Turn' Is MRC Data's Top Album of 2020, Roddy Ricch's 'The Box' Most-Streamed Song". Billboard. Retrieved November 6, 2023.
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