Official Charts Of The Noughties

31/12/2009

Will Young, James Blunt, Now! 47 and Mamma Mia! The Movie provided the most popular home entertainment of the Noughties, the Official Charts Company has revealed.

The Official Charts Company can confirm today that the biggest sellers of the Noughties were:
• Single - Anything Is Possible/Evergreen by Will Young
• Album – Back To Bedlam by James Blunt
• Video – Mamma Mia! The Movie
• Compilation – Now! 47.

Singles:
Will Young’s 2002 debut single sold 1.8m copies to become the biggest selling single, pipping fellow Pop Idol star Gareth Gates’ Unchained Melody into second place (1.3m).

Other highlights were
>> eight of the Top 20 biggest selling singles were from artists who emerged from reality TV shows – Young, Gates, Alexandra Burke, Shayne Ward, Hearsay, Leona Lewis (twice) and X Factor Finalists.
>> 10 singles sold more than 1m copies during the decade -
>> the highest ranking single from 2009 was Lady Gaga’s Poker Face, which finds itself in 15th place in the overall list.

Albums:
James Blunt’s 2005 debut album Back To Bedlam sold 3.2m copies to top the end-of-the-decade chart, ahead of Dido’s No Angel album and Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black, which also both sold more than 3m units. Blunt says he is delighted with the honour. “I'm glad so many people enjoyed it," he adds.

Other highlights were:
>> Robbie Williams and Coldplay both sold enough albums to get three titles each in the Top 20 for the decade, while amounting personal totals of over 10m and 9m sales each.
>> The Beatles’ remain the most enduring act on the charts, their 1 album being the biggest selling greatest hits, with 2.9m sales.
>> Of the more recent releases, Kings Of Leon’s 2008 release Only By The Night sold 2.2m copies to make the decade Top 20, while the likely biggest selling album of 2009 – Susan Boyle’s I Dreamed A Dream – has sold more than 1.6m copies in six weeks, enough to put itself close to the Top 50 biggest albums of the decade.

Videos:
2008’s Mamma Mia! The Movie release sold 5.9m copies to become the decade’s biggest home video, ahead of Gladiator and the Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring.

Other highlights include:
>> movie franchises dominated the decade, with all three Lord Of The Rings releases featuring in the Top 20 biggest sellers, along with two Pirates Of the Caribbean titles (Curse Of and Dead Man’s… ), three Harry Potter releases (Philosophers Stone, Chamber Of Secrets and Goblet Of Fire) and two Shrek titles (1 and 2). Between them, the three franchises sold around 60m videos across the decade – one copy for every single member of the population *.

Compilations:
November 2000’s Now! 47 – featuring singles such as Robbie Williams Rock DJ, U2’s Beautiful Day and David Gray’s Babylon - was the biggest selling compilation album, selling 1.4m copies to pip 2001’s Now! 50 into second place.
Now was by far the most successful compilation brand, accounting for 29 of the Top 50 biggest compilation releases. Between them, Now! titles sold 29m units across the decade.

Official Charts Company managing director Martin Talbot says, “These charts provide a fascinating glimpse into the household tastes of the nations – and the home entertainment on their shelves.
“In the Noughties, we fell in love with Harry Potter, Lord Of The Rings and Pirates Of The Caribbean and became obsessed with reality TV music, from the explosive launch of Pop Idol right up to X-Factor today. On top of that, Coldplay, Robbie Williams and Now! dominated the albums market throughout the decade, while The Beatles again demonstrated their enduring popularity.”

* Based on Office For National Statistics estimate - UK population at 61.8m, mid-2008.

Top 10s for the decade

Artist albums
1 BACK TO BEDLAM  JAMES BLUNT
2 NO ANGEL             DIDO
3 BACK TO BLACK     AMY WINEHOUSE
4 SPIRIT                 LEONA LEWIS
5 WHITE LADDER      DAVID GRAY
6 1                         BEATLES
7 LIFE FOR RENT      DIDO
8 A RUSH OF BLOOD TO THE HEAD COLDPLAY
9 SCISSOR SISTERS SCISSOR SISTERS
10 BEAUTIFUL WORLD TAKE THAT
Source: The Official Charts Company.

Singles
1 ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE/EVERGREEN WILL YOUNG
2 UNCHAINED MELODY                      GARETH GATES
3 (IS THIS THE WAY TO) AMARILLO   TONY CHRISTIE FT PETER KAY
4 IT WASN'T ME                               SHAGGY FT RIKROK
5 HALLELUJAH                                 ALEXANDRA BURKE
6 DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS    BAND AID 20
7 CAN'T GET YOU OUT OF MY HEAD    KYLIE MINOGUE
8 THAT'S MY GOAL                           SHAYNE WARD
9 PURE AND SIMPLE                         HEARSAY
10 CAN WE FIX IT                            BOB THE BUILDER
Source: The Official Charts Company.

Compilations
1 NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL MUSIC 47 VARIOUS ARTISTS
2 NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL MUSIC 50 VARIOUS ARTISTS
3 NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL MUSIC 56 VARIOUS ARTISTS
4 MAMMA MIA                                    ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK
5 NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL MUSIC 68 VARIOUS ARTISTS
6 HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL                   ORIGINAL TV SOUNDTRACK
7 NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL MUSIC 62 VARIOUS ARTISTS
8 BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY                   ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK
9 NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL MUSIC 71 VARIOUS ARTISTS
10 NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL MUSIC 53 VARIOUS ARTISTS
Source: The Official Charts Company.

Video
1 MAMMA MIA - THE MOVIE
2 GLADIATOR
3 THE LORD OF THE RINGS - FELLOWSHIP OF
4 PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN - THE CURSE OF
5 HARRY POTTER & THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE
6 SHREK
7 BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY
8 THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
9 THE LORD OF THE RINGS - THE TWO TOWERS
10 HARRY POTTER & THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS
Source: The Official Charts Company.

NB The data and charts above are compiled by the Official Charts Company based on sales up to Midnight last night (December 30) and will be finally confirmed when final market data for 2009 (and hence the decade) will be concluded at the end of business, at midnight, this coming Saturday.

In compiling the data and charts, the Official Charts Company counted digital and physical sales of the music releases – across vinyl, cassette, CD and download – as well as VHS, DVD and blu-ray sales of the video titles.

Notes to editors.
1.   Chart information quoted from this release must be credited to The Official Charts Company
2.  The Official Charts Company (OCC) is a joint venture between record labels’ body the BPI and ERA, the Entertainment Retailers Association.   The OCC is responsible for the commissioning, marketing, distribution and management of the UK’s industry standard music and video charts and is endorsed by the BVA (British Video Association).
3. The Official Charts Company compiles its charts from sales information gathered across all key distribution (or entertainment) channels including all major high street retail chains, independent stores, supermarkets, mail order internet retailers and digital music service providers. This market research sample equates to 99% of the total UK Singles market; 98% of the total UK Albums market and 90% of the total UK DVD market.

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