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.
50 Biggest Selling Artist Albums of the Millennium in the U.K.
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
