Written by James Horner and Will Jennings, and serving as the love theme for James Camerons blockbuster film Titanic. 8 spot, spending its 11th consecutive day on the tally. @Hulkenburg Smash Thats because Purple Rain is technically a soundtrack to the movie of the same name. After observing sales trends for many years I started noticing that some artists shift such large quantities of albums in their first week, that they attract an immediate certification. Even the critics liked it enough to not try to get attention by pretending to hate it. It reached number-one in eleven countries, including the US for 12 non-consecutive weeks. 47. COMPLEX participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means COMPLEX gets paid commissions on purchases made through our links to retailer sites. As many as 3 pop albums feature inside the Top 10 with Ed Sheeran , Ariana Grande and recently released Sour by Olivia Rodrigo. Eminem The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) 35m This leads us to wonder how does the list look like if we factor in the number of songs into the picture? Sky is the limit for J-Hope, Jimin, Jin, Jungkook, RM, Suga, and V. Since their 2013 debut, their sales figures keep booming album after album. You may wonder if this list looks somewhat biased towards older releases since the highest 2020s release barely reach the top 20. im sure roddy is gonna drop something and he should put up really good numbers too. "Celebrity," the fourth and final album by *NSYNC, sold 1,880,000 copies in the first week after its release. In order to attain this level of success an act really needs to be in tune with what is happening on society, what audiences want, whilst remaining true to their brand and music. 02. AC/DC Back In Black (1980) 50m 12. The album also won a Grammy Award in 1986 for Best Engineered Album. Swift is the only artist in history to have five different albums with million-selling weeks. These areThe 25 Biggest First-Week Album Sales in Music History. The anthology album impressively racked up sales of 514,000 units in its first week. Theres also situations where double-length albums count as two sales. 17. In Spring 2017, the album broke the record for the longest-charting album by a female artist on the Billboard 200, surpassing Tapestry by Carole King. Sour was available to way more people thanPurpose, for example. Perhaps the biggest outlier in the top 10 is Folklore by Taylor Swift which lies inside the indie genre. The 2015 album jumps to the 3rd spot with 2.35 streams per user. (Remember Me)| 1997| 549K 37| Jay-Z| The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse| 2002| 545K 38| D12| D12 World| 2004| 544K 39| Drake| If You're Reading This It's Too Late| 2015| 535K 40| Outkast| Stankonia| 2000| 530K 41| Jay-Z| Magna Carta Holy Grail| 2013| 527K 42| T.I.| King| 2006| 522K 43| Snoop Dogg| Da Game Is to Be Sold, Not to Be Told| 1998| 520K 44| Dr. Dre| 2001| 1999| 516K 45| J. Cole| 4 Your Eyez Only| 2016| 511K 46| Outkast| Speakerboxxx/The Love Below| 2003| 510K 47| Drake| More Life| 2017| 505K 48| Juice WRLD| Legends Never Die|2020|497K 49| Kanye West| My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy| 2010| 496K 50| Master P| MP Da Last Don| 1998| 495K 51| The Notorious B.I.G.| Born Again| 1999| 485K 52| Lil Wayne | Tha Carter V | 2018 | 480K 53| Snoop Dogg| Tha Doggfather| 1996| 479K 54| Jay-Z| The Blueprint 3| 2009| 476K 55| Nas| I Am| 1999| 470K 56| T.I.| T.I. The Bodyguard soundtrack was released in 1992, sung entirely by Whitney Houston in the R&B, Soul, and Pop genres. Sales of the album now stand at over 32 million copies. The bands most commercially successful release sold a record-breaking 347,000 copies in its first week on sale in the UK, spent 10 weeks at number-one on the UK Albums Chart, and reached number four in the US Billboard 200. The album was so successful the media was making up stories about the members just to get more attention (some things never change). 30. Dire Straits Brothers in Arms (1985) 30m The record was a commercial success, charting at number-one in the US for 15 weeks. For her third studio album Mariah Carey employed Kenneth Babyface Edmonds, Robert Clivills and David Cole (also known as C+C Music Factory) and Daryl Simmons for production duties. The album also won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1985. Both of them. It became Madonnas first number one album on the Billboard 200 and set the record as the first female album in history to sell over five million copies in the United States. Lionel Richie Cant Slow Down (1983) 20m This list seems suspect to me. 01. Divide by British superstar Ed Sheeran is a close runner up with almost 3 streams per user. For example Bad Bunny and Jack Harlow were added today! Each of its five singles, with three of them being international chart toppers. 's "Niggaz4Life", Ice Cube's "Death Certificate", MC Hammer's "Too Legit to Quit", Public Enemy's "Apocalypse 91 The Enemy Strikes Black", DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince's "Homebase", and Various Artist's "Boyz n the Hood (soundtrack)" probably round out the top 5. The success of the album led to an 18 month worldwide tour and a VHS and DVD release of the tour. Elton John Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973) 30m Nielsen Music started tracking point-of-sales data for US music releases in 1991. 24. What fascinates me the most is the fact that an artist can so unanimously appeal to the social conscious that people will go out on mass to purchase their album and even more fascinating, in the albums first weeks of release. Refresh the page, check Medium 's site status, or find. [4] [5] [6] Jackson also currently has the highest number of albums on the list with five, Celine Dion has four, while the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Madonna and Whitney Houston each have three. Outkast has their best commercial week thus far. Perhaps the biggest outlier in the top 10 is Folklore by Taylor Swift which lies inside the indie genre. 50. Her debut studio album received Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album; the song Dont Know Why won Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. No Rolling Stones album ? 6. RELATED:Pigeons & Planes - 10 Perfect Albums That Never Went Platinum DONDA bests the 295,000 equivalent album unit start for Olivia Rodrigo's SOUR, which until now boasted 2021's biggest release week.Kanye is now one of just seven artists with at least 10 No. The Beatles Abbey Road (1969) 31m #8 - Adele - 21 Certified Sales: 27.1 million In the USA, Adele seemed to come out of nowhere, but 21 was her second album released in 2011 in the Pop and Soul genres. It also had a record-breaking run of 34 weeks at number one on the Australian Albums Chart. 25 eventually gave Adele the worlds best-selling album of 2015, with 17.4 million copies sold and has gone on to sell over 22 million copies worldwide. 2018 - Drake cements himself as number one, Weezy is free, and the rise of Travis Scott, 2021 - Kanye v Drake: Dawn of Prolonged Album Rollouts, ---|---|----|----|---- 1| Eminem| The Marshall Mathers LP| 2000| 1.76M 2| Eminem| The Eminem Show| 2002| 1.322M 3| 50 Cent| The Massacre| 2005| 1.14M 4| Drake| Views| 2016| 1.075M 5| Lil Wayne| Tha Carter III| 2008| 1.006M 6| Lil Wayne| Tha Carter IV| 2011| 964K 7| Kanye West| Graduation| 2007| 957K 8| 50 Cent| Get Rich or Die Tryin'| 2003| 872K 9| Kanye West| Late Registration| 2005| 860K 10| Snoop Dogg| Doggystyle| 1993| 803K 11| Eminem| The Marshall Mathers LP 2| 2013| 792K 12| Drake| Scorpion| 2018| 749K 13| Eminem| Recovery| 2010| 741K 14| Nelly| Nellyville| 2002| 714K 15| Eminem| Encore | 2004| 710K 16| Eminem| 8 Mile OST| 2002| 702K 17| DMX| And Then There Was X| 1999| 698K 18| 50 Cent| Curtis| 2007| 697K 19| The Notorious B.I.G.| Life After Death| 1997| 690K 20| Beastie Boys| Hello Nasty| 1998| 681K 21| Jay-Z| Kingdom Come| 2006| 680K 22| DMX| Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood| 1998| 670K 23| 2Pac| The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory| 1996| 664K 24| Drake| Nothing Was the Same| 2013| 658K 25| Drake| Take Care| 2011| 631K 26| Drake | Certified Lover Boy | 2021| 613K 27| Wu-Tang Clan| Wu-Tang Forever| 1997| 612K 28| Kendrick Lamar| DAMN.| 2017| 610K 29| Eminem| Relapse| 2009| 608K 30| The Game| The Documentary| 2005| 586K 31| T.I.| Paper Trail| 2008| 568K 32| 2Pac| All Eyez On Me| 1996| 566K 33| P. Diddy| No Way Out| 1997| 561K 34| Jay-Z| The Dynasty: Roc La Familia| 2000| 558K 35| Travis Scott | Astroworld | 2018 | 553K 36| 2Pac| R U Still Down? The music buying public is fickle. 08/7/2022. Eminem - The Eminem Show Released: May 28, 2002 Label: Aftermath Entertainment/Interscope Records The album became one of the best-selling albums in history. 40. 19. As a result, many anticipated that "Yet to Come" would rank high on this week's Billboard Hot 100; however, the track failed to do so. The fifth studio album by Irish rock band U2 had the provisional titles The Desert Songs and The Two Americas. and i wouldnt be surprised if someone like lil baby dropped again, i know that drip harder 2 has been teased and with how both of those artists have grown in status, that could be a monster release, also i know this sub hates him but the kid laroi is gearing up to have a huge year and i wouldnt be surprised if he snuck in with one of the biggest albums of 2021 as well. Lets take a look at the next ten that performed really well and may make it in the next decade. Eminem's numbers in his prime were just out of this fucking world. Naturally, the leader of urban music comes on top. It came out in 1976 and has continued to gain sales as it ultimately became a collection of oldies tracks. Basically, longer albums have their raw streams inflated while shorter albums have their average streams inflate. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. (1995) 22m You were probably waiting on The Beatles to make an appearance. Since we can, why not quickly list off a bunch more that are very close to making it. It went 33x Platinum and won a record-breaking 8 Grammy Awards at the 1984 Grammy Awards. If trav drops hell still certainly be in top 5 of the year but Idk if utopia would crack the top 100 oat. She wasnt satisfied with her first album capturing the sound of tragedy and tried to write an upbeat album. The biggest is that more and more markets are getting into Spotify making it harder to be big everywhere. According to Billboard, the album sold 1,061,000 copies in the week ending January 3, 1993, six weeks after its release. Im a big chart watcher and album sales figures fascinate me. Her previous albums were titled 19 and 25. 30 's first-week sales of 692,000 not only mark the single-largest sales frame of 2021, but the largest sales week for any album since 2017. 45. The Swedish pop group consisting of Ulf Ekberg and three siblings: Jonas Berggren, Linn Berggren and Jenny Berggren had one of the best-selling debut albums of all time with Happy Nation (reissued as The Sign). All we can now do is wait and see, Disclaimer: Whilst all attempts were made to secure worldwide first-week sales for all the albums listed in this article, sometimes only first-week sales figures from one country were available at the time this article was published. "25" went on to sell 1,160,000 copies in its second week and 1,190,000 in its fifth week. 2nd to only his own Scorpion. "1989," Swift's fifth album, sold 1,287,000 copies in the first week after its release. Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin IV (1971) 37m I find it super interesting to look at this and see how current artists stack up against artists of the past so I broke it down into a few charts. The list also flags up no Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Queen, and as yet (but it wont be long), no Ed Sheeran. "Yet to Come (The Most Beautiful Moment)" successfully entered at No. Saturday Night Fever is one of the best movie soundtracks of all time. There are albums which got less than 79 million streams a long time ago that could have done well in a weighted list. The latters Made In The A.M. reached that incredible milestone, while at the same time the formersPurpose went through the roof, topping 200 million. Here are 20 albums with the biggest first-week sales in hip-hop history. This led 300 million, 400 million, and 500 million first week streams barriers to be broken. This would become the basis for lead track Hotel California. "Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water," Limp Bizkit's third album, sold 1,055,000 copies in the first week after its release. Slippery When Wet transformed the New Jersey band into global superstars. By 1991, Bad was the second-best-selling album of all time at the time, behind Thriller, having sold 25 million copies worldwide. The past year has . A track equivalent album is equal to 10 tracks, or 10 songs. This performance indicator has been applied only to the initial list of 85 albums. The Bee Gees included so many songs in the soundtrack and the movie of the same name that they essentially lost an albums worth of material. This is easily one of the most important albums to ever be created. A New Day in Las Vegas Strip (200307), remains the highest-grossing concert residency of all time and Dion is the best-selling Canadian artist and one of the best-selling artists ever with record sales of over 200 million copies worldwide. As you can guess, the MAU is the number of users by the time each album was released. Five singles were released from Cant Slow Down, all of which hit the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, including two that reached number-one: All Night Long (All Night) and Hello. MLD Entertainment To Debut New Boy Group HORI7ON: Concept, Date, More Details! With over 510k copies sold in its first week, the album shot straight to the top of the Billboard 200. The last time an album sold more. It comes as no surprise. 17, and "Run BTS" at No. By then, the platform had 88 million monthly active users, a number that has now increased to over 300 million. 15. The fool writer notes that The Eagles recently surpassed it in sales up top-but neglects to mention this is true for the U.S. ONLY, Thriller is still the bestselling world-wide album by a wide margin, They should have put 50cents debut album get rich or die tryin it not only was hip hops highest selling rap debut album but was the highest selling album of 2003 of all genres sold over 10 million records now thats worthy of putting on the list plus his second album sold 1.5 million the first week that also went diamond, Youo left out out whitney houston the bodyguard which sold over 42 million and Whitney which sold about 27 million, Tghe Bodyguard is not considered a STUDIO ALBUM. The Thriller, Billie Jean, and Beat It videos continued to push sales of the album for a long time, as did the seven singles. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. This beast of an album went 16x Platinum, was #1 on the Billboard 200 for 24 weeks straight, and stayed on the charts for 120 total weeks. The first few weeks after the initial release of an album (thats obvious); Christmas time: in the lead up to Christmas album sales increase exponentially; Grammy time: in the week after the Grammy ceremony album sales increase; After the death of a major celebrity, people seem to go out in droves to purchase an artists past catalogue, almost as a way to show respect to the artist or maybe as a way to hold on to something from their past. all. Led Zeppelin themselves called it a fully realized hybrid of the folk and hard-rock directions.. No Elvis? It remains the only album in history to sell one million copies in at least two different weeks. https://chartmasters.org/spotify-top-album-debuts/?view=country&country_code2=WW. Which artists do you expect to have the five best first weeks this year and who do you expect will make the top 100? We added a simple formula* to get an indicator in-between both views to get the top performing debuts of all-time on Spotify. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. 48. 1 Song on the Billboard Hot 100 Since 2000 34. 4. 7. This is one of my desert island albums for sure. 9. The Marshall Mathers LP has sold over 35 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling album of the 21st century. On June 20, "Yet to Come" ranked No. Its a tough juggling act. certainly the last biggest act in hiphop, i dont see it ever being surpassed with how BIG he was. })(); Best selling artists, albums and singles of all-time. 44. "Black & Blue," the fourth album by Backstreet Boys, sold 1,591,000 copies in the first week after its release. U.S. chart. Released in 1982, it was a weird transition time for music when Disco and Funk were on the way out and Rock and Pop were on the way in. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. On the US Scale at least, Apple Music is completely paid, and Rap DOMINATES, compared to US Spotify where Pop fares way better. I for one would be interested to see who would be able to beat Michael Jacksons astounding 7 million unit achievement. Meek Mill's "Dreams & Nightmares" debuts with 165K. Lionel Richie - Can't Slow Down (1983) 20m. Thank U, NextbyAriana Grandeis the only other album over the 30-million threshold. In 1986, when Run-D.M.C. Born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar to American concert producer Sue Jones and Indian musician Ravi Shankar, Jones was a lounge singer before finding success. I think theres an argument to be made that its hard to compare pre-streaming sales to sales with streaming. Previously, Billboardrevealedthat BTS' "Proof" debuted at No. In addition to recording the highest first-week sales this 2022, "Proof" also achieved the fifth-highest first-week sales by a foreign artist's album in Oricon history. The winner? So if you took US Spotify charts and separated it, Im willing to bet it is pop that sees harder falls while rap gains. (Pretty Young Thing), and Thriller all of which reached the top 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. I Did It Again," the second album by Britney Spears, sold 1,319,000 copies in the first week after its release. Millennium sold almost half a million copies in the US on its first day. It was played for the press live at the Rainbow Theatre a year before its release and they loved it. HARRY STYLES. 8 on MelOn. Rick Ross' "Port of Miami" debuted with 187K. 5. The album has a perfect score among the top professional ratings critic groups. Jacksons previous album Off the Wall (1979) had been a critical success, but he wasnt happy. Michael Jackson 's Thriller, estimated to have sold 70 million copies worldwide, is the best-selling album ever. And the biggest benefit goes to compilations and greatest hits records that are full of hit singles. once we account for everything it happens to be the top performer out of The debut solo studio album by George Michael spawned four number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100: Faith, Father Figure, One More Try, and Monkey, making Michael the only British male solo artist to have four number one hits from one album. Nielsen Music started tracking point-of-sales data for US music releases in 1991. Trivia Facts: Thriller marked the first time Michael Jackson reached the top of the Billboard 200, back when it was called the Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart. The rappers fourth studio album is often debated as Eminems most personal and best work. A lot of data was impossible for me to find here. Likely the most famous musician since the peak of Michael Jacksons fame. Also despite female rappers being really dominant recently and Doja, cardi b and nicki all either being confirmed or likely to drop albums this upcoming year idk if any of them will make the top 5 for the year, just wondering, are you not counting post malone as hip hop? The album contained 16 tracks and 12 of them were promoted as singles over the course of three years. "Millennium," the third album by Backstreet Boys, sold 1,134,000 copies in the first week after its release. For more K-Pop news, follow and subscribe to KpopStarz. hollywoods bleeding had a bigger first week but i assume its not included here bc its not a full hip hop record. 2002 - Eminem continues to dominate, the rise of Nelly. Check https://chartmasters.org/spotify-top-album-debuts/?view=country&country_code2=WW. Michael Jackson Bad (1987) 35m Simon & Garfunkel Bridge over Troubled Water (1970) 25m The Wall initially received mixed reviews from critics, many of who found it overblown and pretentious. A$AP Rocky's "Long. "Speak Now," Taylor Swift's third album, sold 1,047,000 copies in the first week after its release. The movie itself is one of the best movies about music ever, which helped propel the sales of the soundtrack. Thats ridiculous. Her debut studio album topped the Billboard 200 for 14 weeks generating three number-one singles Saving All My Love for You, How Will I Know and Greatest Love of All. Metallica Metallica (1991) 31m Spears and her management were presented a track titled Hit Me Baby (One More Time) which had been rejected by girl group TLC. If we go by certified sales only, Michael Jacksons Thriller remains the indisputed champion by far. Idol Trainee's Status After Joining 'Girls Planet 999'. Looking at the top 10 is fun, but what about those that either almost made the list or still have a real chance of bumping others off the list? "No Strings Attached," the third album by *NSYNC, sold 2,416,000 copies in the first week after its release. In truth, its surely way more loyal to this artform than downloads ever where. Stray Kids Felix Fashion: Idol's Charming Styles To Try On For Boys Night Out. None of these album are what anyone might have considered popular music at the time. It was a good choice, being one of the best performing singles ever. BTS' "Proof" took the spot on Oricon's Weekly Album Chart, with the biggest first-week sales recorded in Japan this year. The third solo studio album by English drummer and singer-songwriter Phil Collins sold over twelve million copies in the US, and in the UK, over two million copies. 57 million of these came from Old Town Roads two versions, The biggest EP debut belongs to The Weeknd though with My Dear Melancholy which contains just 6 original tracks. 3 Life and Times of S. Carter| 1999| 462K 59| Kanye West| 808's & Heartbreak | 2008| 450K 60| Drake| Thank Me Later| 2010| 447K 61| Kanye West| The College Dropout| 2004| 441K 62| DMX| The Great Depression| 2001| 439K 63| Jay-Z & Kanye West| Watch The Throne| 2011| 436K 64| Eminem| Kamikaze| 2018| 434K 65| Lloyd Banks| The Hunger for More| 2004| 433K 66| 2Pac| Tupac: Resurrection| 2003| 430K 67| Ludacris| Chicken-n-Beer| 2003| 429K 68| 2Pac| Until The End of Time| 2001| 427K 69| Jay-Z| American Gangster| 2007| 426K 70| Lauryn Hill| The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill| 1998| 423K 71| Jay-Z| The Blueprint| 2001| 420K 72| Method Man| Tical 2000: Judgement Day| 1998| 411K 73| 2Pac & Outlawz| Still I Rise| 1999| 408K 74| J. Cole | KOD| 2018| 398K 75| Snoop Dogg| Tha Last Meal| 2000| 397K 76| Nelly| Suit| 2004| 396K 77| Nicki Minaj| Pink Friday| 2010| 395K 78| Bone Thugs-N-Harmony| The Art Of War| 1997| 394K 79| Mystikal| Ghetto Fabulous| 1998| 385K 79| The Game| Doctor's Advocate| 2006| 385K 81| G-Unit| Beg for Mercy| 2003| 377K 82| J. Cole| 2014 Forest Hills Drive| 2014| 375K 82| Drake & Future| What A Time to Be Alive| 2015| 375K 84| D12| Devil's Night| 2001| 372K 85| 2Pac| Better Dayz| 2002| 366K 86| Kendrick Lamar| To Pimp a Butterfly| 2015| 363K 87| Ja Rule| Pain Is Love| 2001| 361K 87| Young Buck| Straight Outta Cashville| 2004| 361K 89| Beastie Boys| To the 5 Boroughs| 2004| 360K 90| Nas| Hip Hop Is Dead| 2006| 356K 91| Young Jeezy| The Inspiration| 2006| 352K 92| Jay-Z| Vol.