Best-selling albums by year in the United States

This is a list of the best-selling albums by year in the United States. Billboard magazine began publishing year-end lists for album sales in 1956. 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. Likewise, the year-end chart was a measure of chart performance over the twelve months from December to November rather than total sales. Weekly surveys and year-end charts by Billboard and other publications such as 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 1991, Billboard year-end and weekly charts were calculated by Nielsen SoundScan.

Harry Belafonte's 1956 record entitled Calyspo was the first product to be recognized as a top-selling album for a year once Billboard magazine started tracking sales figures. Eminem's 2010 rap record Recovery currently holds the title for the US's top-selling digital album. British glam rock performer Elton John and rapper Eminem each have had two of their albums be top sellers in two separate years in the US. Pop singer Michael Jackson's 1982 Thriller became the best-selling record in the country for two consecutive years in the 1980s (and later became the best-selling album of all time). Other albums to achieve the same accomplishment included the My Fair Lady Original Cast Recording from the hit 1950s Broadway production between 1957–1958.

Contents 1 1950s 2 1960s 3 1970s 4 1980s 5 1990s 6 2000s 7 2010s 8 Notes 9 See also 10 References 11 External links

1950s

Year[I]	Performing artist(s)	Nationality	Album	Ref.
1956	Harry Belafonte !Harry Belafonte	United States	Harry Belafonte !Calypso	[1]
1957	Various artists !Various artists	–	Various artists !My Fair Lady Original Cast Recording	[2]
1958	Various artists !Various artists	–	Various artists !My Fair Lady Original Cast Recording	[3]
1959	Henry Mancini !Henry Mancini	United States	Henry Mancini !Music from Peter Gunn	[4]

1960s

Year[I]	Performing artist(s)	Nationality	Album	Ref.
1960	Various !Various artists	–	Various !The Sound of Music Original Cast Recording	[5]
1961	Various !Various artists	–	Various !Camelot Original Cast Recording	[6]
1962	Various !Various artists	–	Various !West Side Story Soundtrack	[7]
1963	Various !Various artists	–	Various !West Side Story Soundtrack	[8]
1964	Various !Various artists	–	Various !Hello, Dolly! Original Cast Recording	[9]
1965	Various !Various artists	–	Various !Mary Poppins Soundtrack	[10]
1966	Herb !Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass	United States	Herb !Whipped Cream & Other Delights	[11]
1967	Monkees !The Monkees	United States	Herb !More of The Monkees	[12]
1968	Jim Experience !The Jimi Hendrix Experience	UK	Jim Experience !Are You Experienced?	[13]
1969	Iron Butterfly !Iron Butterfly	United States	Iron Butterfly !In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida	[14]

1970s

Year[I]	Performing artist(s)	Nationality	Album	Ref.
1970	Simon and Garfunkel !Simon and Garfunkel	United States	Simon and Garfunkel !Bridge Over Troubled Water	[15]
1971	Various !Various artists	–	Various !Jesus Christ Superstar	[16]
1972	Neil Young !Neil Young	Canada	Neil Young !Harvest	[17]
1973	War !War	United States	War !The World Is a Ghetto	[18]
1974	Elton John !Elton John	UK	Elton John !Goodbye Yellow Brick Road	[19]
1975	Elton John !Elton John	UK	Elton John !Elton John's Greatest Hits	[20]
1976	Peter Frampton !Peter Frampton	UK	Peter Frampton !Frampton Comes Alive	[21]
1977	Fleetwood Mac !Fleetwood Mac	UK	Fleetwood Mac !Rumours	[22]
1978	Various !Various artists	–	Various !Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack	[23]
1979	Billy Joel !Billy Joel	United States	Billy Joel !52nd Street	[24]

1980s

Year[I]	Performing artist(s)	Nationality	Album	Ref.
1980	Pink Floyd !Pink Floyd	UK	Pink Floyd !The Wall	[25]
1981	REO Speedwagon !REO Speedwagon	United States	Speedwagon !Hi Infidelity	[26]
1982	Asia !Asia	UK	Asia !Asia	[27]
1983	Michael Jackson !Michael Jackson	United States	Michael Jackson !Thriller	[28]
1984	Michael Jackson !Michael Jackson	United States	Michael Jackson !Thriller	[29]
1985	Bruce Springsteen !Bruce Springsteen	United States	Bruce Springsteen !Born in the U.S.A.	[30]
1986	Whitney Houston !Whitney Houston	United States	Whitney Houston !Whitney Houston	[31]
1987	Bon Jovi !Bon Jovi	United States	Bon Jovi !Slippery When Wet	[32]
1988	George Michael !George Michael	UK	George Michael !Faith	[33]
1989	Bobby Brown !Bobby Brown	United States	Bobby Brown !Don't Be Cruel	[34]

1990s

Year[I]	Performing artist(s)	Nationality	Album	Sales	Ref.
1990	Janet Jackson !Janet Jackson	United States	Janet Jackson !Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814	6,000,000	[35]
1991	Garth Brooks !Garth Brooks	United States	Garth Brooks !Ropin' The Wind		[36]
1992	Bill Ray Cyrus !Billy Ray Cyrus	United States	Billy Ray Cyrus !Some Gave All		[37]
1993	Various !Various artists1	-	Various !The Bodyguard Soundtrack	11,000,000	[38]
1994	Various !Various artists	-	Various !The Lion King Soundtrack	4,900,000	[39]
1995	Hootie and the Blowfish !Hootie and the Blowfish	United States	Hootie and the Blowfish !Cracked Rear View	7,000,000	[40]
1996	Alanis Morissette !Alanis Morissette	Canada	Alanis Morissette !Jagged Little Pill	7,380,000	[41]
1997	Spice Girls !Spice Girls	UK	Spice Girls !Spice	5,300,000	[40]
1998	James Horner !James Horner	United States	James Horner !Titanic Soundtrack	9,330,000	[41]
1999	Backstreet Boys !Backstreet Boys	United States	Backstreet Boys !Millennium	9,440,000	[41]

¹ Often credited solely to Whitney Houston.

2000s

Year[I]	Performing artist(s)	Nationality	Album	Sales	Ref.
2000	*NSYNC !*NSYNC	United States	*NSYNC !No Strings Attached	9,930,000	[41]
2001	Linkin Park !Linkin Park	United States	Linkin Park !Hybrid Theory	4,810,000	[41]
2002	Eminem !Eminem	United States	Eminem !The Eminem Show	7,607,925	[42]
2003	50 Cent !50 Cent	United States	50 Cent !Get Rich or Die Tryin'	6,535,809	[43]
2004	Usher !Usher	United States	Usher !Confessions	8,000,000	[44]
2005	Mariah Carey !Mariah Carey	United States	Mariah Carey !The Emancipation of Mimi	5,000,000	[39]
2006	High School Musical !Various artists	–	High School Musical !High School Musical Soundtrack	3,700,000	[45]
2007	Josh Groban !Josh Groban	United States	Josh Groban !Noël	3,699,000	[46]
2008	Lil Wayne !Lil Wayne	United States	Lil Wayne !Tha Carter III	2,874,000	[47]
2009	Taylor Swift !Taylor Swift	United States	Taylor Swift !Fearless	3,217,000	[48]

2010s

Year[I]	Performing artist(s)	Nationality	Album	Sales	Ref.
2010	Eminem !Eminem	United States	Eminem !Recovery	3,415,000	[49]
2011	Adele (singer) !Adele	UK	Adele (singer) !21	5,824,000	[50]

Notes

^{^[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. Interestingly, albums at the peak of their popularity at the time of the November/December chart-year cutoff many times end up ranked lower than one would expect 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 1990, the Billboard year-end tracking was used. From 1991 to date, Nielsen SoundScan's year-end tracking was used.

See also

Billboard Year-End List of best-selling albums worldwide List of best-selling albums in Argentina List of best-selling albums in Australia List of best-selling albums in Brazil List of best-selling albums in Canada

List of best-selling albums in France List of best-selling albums in Germany List of best-selling albums in Japan List of best-selling albums in the Philippines List of best-selling albums in Taiwan List of best-selling albums in the United Kingdom

References

External links

Official website for Billboard magazine

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