Adele’s 21 is the biggest selling artist album of the millennium to date, the Official Charts Company can reveal. The singer-songwriter’s second studio album – which spent an impressive 23 weeks at Number 1 - has sold nearly 4,740,000 copies in the UK to date.
Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black earns the Number 2 spot with sales of over 3,560,000 since its 2006 release. The former Official Albums Chart Number 1 spawned five Top 40 singles including Rehab, You Know I’m No Good, Back To Black, Tears Dry On Their Own and Love Is A Losing Game.
In at Number 3 is James Blunt’s debut LP Back To Bedlam, which counts 3,310,000 sales this millennium. The album spent 10 weeks at the Official Albums Chart summit, racking up a total of 40 weeks in the Top 40.
Rounding out the Top 5 are chart debuts Leona Lewis’ Spirit with 3,130,000 UK sales and Dido’s No Angel with 3,080,000 sales.
Robbie Williams and Take That tie for the most entries in the Top 50 with four each. Robbie’s Swing When You’re Winning (21), Greatest Hits (25), Sing When You’re Winning (31) and Escapology (35) feature on the list alongside Take That’s Beautiful World (13), Progress (22), Never Forget – The Ultimate Collection (24) and The Circus (30).
Other acts with multiple entries include; Coldplay (3), Adele (2), Dido (2), Ed Sheeran (2), Michael Buble (2) and Rihanna (2).
Of the Top 50 Official Biggest Selling Artist Albums of the Millennium, only two were released before the year 2000 - David Gray’s White Ladder and ABBA’s Gold – Greatest Hits, which sit at Numbers 8 and 19, respectively.
Only 39 albums have passed the 2 million UK sales mark this millennium, with the latest addition to the list, Ed Sheeran’s X, tipping over just this week.
Check out the full Top 50 Official Biggest Selling Artist Albums of the Millennium so far below:
NO. | TITLE | ARTIST | LABEL |
1 | 21 | ADELE | XL RECORDINGS |
2 | BACK TO BLACK | AMY WINEHOUSE | ISLAND |
3 | BACK TO BEDLAM | JAMES BLUNT | ATLANTIC |
4 | SPIRIT | LEONA LEWIS | SYCO MUSIC |
5 | NO ANGEL | DIDO | ARISTA |
6 | 1 | BEATLES | APPLE CORPS |
7 | CRAZY LOVE | MICHAEL BUBLE | REPRISE |
8 | WHITE LADDER | DAVID GRAY | EAST WEST |
9 | THE FAME | LADY GAGA | INTERSCOPE |
10 | A RUSH OF BLOOD TO THE HEAD | COLDPLAY | PARLOPHONE |
11 | LIFE FOR RENT | DIDO | CHEEKY |
12 | ONLY BY THE NIGHT | KINGS OF LEON | HAND ME DOWN |
13 | BEAUTIFUL WORLD | TAKE THAT | POLYDOR |
14 | HOPES AND FEARS | KEANE | ISLAND |
15 | SCISSOR SISTERS | SCISSOR SISTERS | POLYDOR |
16 | X&Y | COLDPLAY | PARLOPHONE |
17 | PARACHUTES | COLDPLAY | PARLOPHONE |
18 | COME AWAY WITH ME | NORAH JONES | VIRGIN |
19 | GOLD - GREATEST HITS | ABBA | POLYDOR |
20 | THE MARSHALL MATHERS LP | EMINEM | INTERSCOPE |
21 | SWING WHEN YOU'RE WINNING | ROBBIE WILLIAMS | ISLAND |
22 | PROGRESS | TAKE THAT | POLYDOR |
23 | EYES OPEN | SNOW PATROL | FICTION |
24 | NEVER FORGET - THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION | TAKE THAT | RCA |
25 | GREATEST HITS | ROBBIE WILLIAMS | ISLAND |
26 | NUMBER ONES | MICHAEL JACKSON | EPIC |
27 | 19 | ADELE | XL RECORDINGS |
28 | CHRISTMAS | MICHAEL BUBLE | REPRISE |
29 | ROCKFERRY | DUFFY | A&M |
30 | THE CIRCUS | TAKE THAT | POLYDOR |
31 | SING WHEN YOU'RE WINNING | ROBBIE WILLIAMS | ISLAND |
32 | OUR VERSION OF EVENTS | EMELI SANDE | VIRGIN |
33 | HOT FUSS | KILLERS | VERTIGO |
34 | AMERICAN IDIOT | GREEN DAY | REPRISE |
35 | ESCAPOLOGY | ROBBIE WILLIAMS | ISLAND |
36 | EMPLOYMENT | KAISER CHIEFS | B-UNIQUE/POLYDOR |
37 | SONGS ABOUT JANE | MAROON 5 | A&M |
38 | BY THE WAY | RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS | WARNER BROS |
39 | X | ED SHEERAN | ASYLUM |
40 | STRIPPED | CHRISTINA AGUILERA | RCA |
41 | JUSTIFIED | JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE | JIVE |
42 | THE GREATEST HITS | TEXAS | MERCURY |
43 | I DREAMED A DREAM | SUSAN BOYLE | SYCO MUSIC |
44 | + | ED SHEERAN | ASYLUM |
45 | LOUD | RIHANNA | DEF JAM |
46 | GOOD GIRL GONE BAD | RIHANNA | DEF JAM |
47 | CALL OFF THE SEARCH | KATIE MELUA | DRAMATICO |
48 | BORN TO DO IT | CRAIG DAVID | WEA |
49 | UNBREAKABLE - THE GREATEST HITS - VOL 1 | WESTLIFE | S |
50 | GREATEST HITS | GUNS N' ROSES | GEFFEN |
© Official Charts Company. Chart shows the Top 50 biggest selling albums since the Millenium, from week 1 2000 to week 11 2015.