The Official Top 40 biggest albums of 2018

With the most weeks at Number 1 this century on the Official Albums Chart, it should come as no surprise that The Greatest Showman's Motion Picture Cast Recording finishes as the biggest album of the 2018, OfficialCharts.com can reveal.

The hugely successful film soundtrack was released in December 2017 and in 2018 – where it didn’t exit the Top 5 for the whole year – the collection shifted 1.6 million combined sales. The album performed well across all formats, leading the way as the year’s best physical seller (CD and vinyl), which makes up 51% of its sales total, as well as being the most downloaded (17%) and streamed (32%) album of the year.

The longest-running Number 1 soundtrack in 50 years, The Greatest Showman spawned five Official Singles Chart Top 40 hits, including the Number 3-peaking This Is Me, 2018’s most downloaded single.

MORE: 2018's Top 40 biggest songs revealed

The news comes as the record labels' association, The BPI, revealed 142.9 million albums or their equivalent were either purchased or streamed over the past year - up 5.7% in 2018 compared to the previous year. Streaming, of which The Greatest Showman was at the forefront of, now accounts for over 63.6% of UK music consumption.

The best-selling album released in 2018, George Ezra’s sophomore album Staying At Tamara’s ends the year in the runner-up slot (691k). The album features George’s first UK Number 1 – and the UK’s Official Song of the Summer – Shotgun, and the Number 2-peaking Paradise.

Last year’s best-selling album, ÷ from Ed Sheeran, rounds out 2018 as the third biggest artist album (510k), while the cast recording of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, which spent four weeks at Number 1 in 2018, occupies the Number 4 slot (374k). Drake’s fifth album Scorpion, which includes six Top 5 singles, rounds out the Top 5 on 300k.

MORE: The albums that spawned the most Top 10 singles

International acts dominate the rest of the Top 10, with Post Malone’s Beerbongs & Bentleys at Number 6, A Star Is Born featuring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper at Number 7, Love from Canadian crooner Michael Buble at Number 8, and Eminem’s record-extending chart topper Kamikaze (10).

From w/e 06 December: Take That - Odyssey

Take That landed their eighth Number 1 with their reworked greatest hits album, which became the fastest-selling artist album of 2018 (106,000 combined sales). 

"We’re so grateful to all our fans who have been out and bought the album," the trio said. "What a way to celebrate our 30th anniversary. It really is incredible and it means so much to us. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone on the tour next year!"

Dua Lipa’s self-titled debut is sandwiched between those at Number 9 following her double BRIT Awards win and the release of the collection’s Complete Edition. Dua ranks highest among British females, with the album being the most popular of 2018 not to peak at Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart.

Elsewhere, Odyssey, Take That’s reimagined greatest hits and 2018’s fastest-selling artist album finishes in 11^th, Andrea Bocelli’s first ever UK Number 1 Si lands at 12, plus Sir Rod Stewart, the oldest British male to claim a Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart, places at 14 with Blood Red Roses.

Ariana Grande claims 2018’s biggest album by an international female artist with Sweetener at Number 16, Arctic Monkeys’ sixth consecutive Number 1 album and 2018’s best seller on vinyl Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino impacts at 17, and the year’s biggest debut album from Anne-Marie titled Speak Your Mind is at 26.

Finally, Olly Murs claims the biggest album to peak at Number 2 on the Official Albums Chart in 2018 with You Know I Know at Number 28.

The Official Top 40 biggest albums of 2018*

©2019 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.

*Based on physical, download, and streaming equivalent sales.

View the Official Top 100 Albums of 2018 in full

Debut albums

Anne-Marie leads the list of the biggest debut albums released in 2018, with the Number 3-peaking Speak Your Mind accumulating combined sales of 164k. Camila Cabello’s self-titled collection picks up the honour of the year’s best-selling international debut (125,000), with Cardi B in third with Invasion of Privacy (104,000).

Juice WLRD had 2018’s fourth biggest debut with Goodbye & Good Riddance, Britain’s Got Talent finalists D-Day Darlings claim the biggest debut album by a group with I’ll Remember You, while Beyonce and Jay Z round out the list with Everything Is Love, their debut album billed as The Carters.

©2019 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.