(To W/E 3rd March 2012 Inclusive)

01) GREATEST HITS – QUEEN (5,863,000)
02) SGT PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND – THE BEATLES (5,044,000)
03) GOLD: GREATEST HITS – ABBA (4,989,000)
04) WHAT'S THE STORY MORNING GLORY – OASIS (4,517,000)
05) THRILLER - MICHAEL JACKSON (4,248,000)
06) BROTHERS IN ARMS - DIRE STRAITS (4,152,000)
07) THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON - PINK FLOYD (4,114,000)
08) 21 – ADELE (4,020,000)
09) BAD - MICHAEL JACKSON (3,959,000)
10) GREATEST HITS II – QUEEN (3,887,000)

© 2012 THE OFFICIAL CHARTS COMPANY.

MY COMMENTS

1) 'Gold', by ABBA, is just 11,000 copies short of 5 Million Sales. And just 55,000 copies behind the No.2 Album, by The Beatles.

2) So, 'The Immaculate Collection' by Madonna, falls out of the Top 10. (From No.10).

3) '21' by Adele, is a New Entry at No.8, after just over a Year on Sale.

Thanks Zeus.

I think 21 will become the UK's biggest selling album eventually.

I know it's a minor point but Greatest Hits packages should be put to one side when looking at this sort of thing.

Although the figures don't lie.

Not sure I own a greatest hits CD and I have over 1200 cd's

I agree with Harveybest


Such a shame Back to black is not in the top 10

I don't GH should be excluded. It's a list of the best selling albums, not just studio albums. You can easily take the GH ones out yourself and move the others up a place.

I'd say at least 200 of my 800 CD's are Best Of's or Greatest Hits as I love them.

Thanks for the advice.

I'm not going to lie..Adele being on that list of timeless greats is depressing.

Take a look at the US list, for me, that is depressing.

Yes that is true but I guess I'm comforted by the fact that I know nobody will remember Adele in 15 years time.

You'd definitely back Adele to move up to number 6 in the coming weeks. And number 5 isn't so very far off either.

Wow and this is only a year in. Adele will certainly top that list in the next few years. I think thats incredible. She is now Britain's most successful female artist.

Not just yet

I think she is second next to Annie Lennox

God I can't believe I forgot Annie

Adele will surpass her though.

I think Greatest Hits albums are great when you like a particular artist but not enough to want to go and buy all their albums or if you just want the singles.

How accurate are these figures though for the older albums? I'm sure I've read before that sales never used to be recorded very accurately so some of the older albums have probably sold more over the years than those figures suggest.

I think so too.

It certainly stands a chance, particularly as most of the top10 have had their 'sales boost' already such, as Michael Jackson after his death, Queen after Freddy Mercury's death, Abba after the Mama Mia film.

Others such as Madonna's Immaculate Collection (which has just left the top10) have been superseded by newer greatest hits that will be eating into sales.

the only album I can foresee having another boost to sales is if Oasis successfully reform in a few years time and gain a new generation of fans, but even then there are now 2 greatest hit collections for 'casual' fans to buy.

I'd say 1 in 20 of mine are Greatest Hits. I normally just get the indiviual new songs off iTunes.

From the OCC website:

The Official Charts Company can reveal today that Adele’s 21 has overtaken Pink Floyd’s 1973 epic, The Dark Side Of The Moon, in the UK’s all-time biggest selling albums chart. The news comes just three weeks after the London-born singer’s 2011 second album overtook sales of Michael Jackson’s Bad.

21 has now sold over 4,142,000 copies in the UK, making it the seventh biggest-selling album of all-time. However, with just 12,000 sales separating 21 from the Number 6 album, Dire Straits’ 1985 long player Brothers In Arms, Adele could easily overtake the British rockers by the end of this week.

"As every week goes by, another record seems to tumble in front of Adele," comments the Official Charts Company's Managing Director, Martin Talbot. "Now, her 21 album has overtaken The Dark Side Of The Moon in the all-time biggest sellers list - and by the end of the week, it may well have overtaken Brothers In Arms, too. Then she will have Michael Jackson's Thriller in her sights. It has been an extraordinary 12 months or so for Adele, and it looks set to become even more extraordinary as the days and weeks go by."

The biggest selling albums of all-time Top 10 now stands as follows:

01) GREATEST HITS – QUEEN - 5,864,000 - (1981)
02) SGT PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND – THE BEATLES - 5,045,000 - (1967)
03) GOLD: GREATEST HITS – ABBA - 4,992,000 - (1992)
04) (WHAT'S THE STORY) MORNING GLORY? – OASIS - 4,520,000 - (1995)
05) THRILLER - MICHAEL JACKSON - 4,272,000 - (1982)
06) BROTHERS IN ARMS - DIRE STRAITS - 4,154,000 - (1985)
07) 21 – ADELE - 4,142,000 - (2011)
08) THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON - PINK FLOYD - 4,116,000 - (1973)
09) BAD - MICHAEL JACKSON - 3,960,000 - (1987)
10) GREATEST HITS II – QUEEN - 3,888,000 - (1991)

It actually does make me sad Back to black isn't in the list
"cries"

This is just the UK list.

What about the worldwide list?? Is she a shoe-in to dethrone Jacksons Thriller which stands at between 65 to 110 million worldwide sales??

I like to know.

'21' has sold about 17 to 20 Million Global copies - so far.
It will never over-take the Sales of 'Thriller' - but, it is breaking
many Chart Records, in many Countries.

2 classic albums there in w/ Oasis and Sgt Pepper but i still prefer like 3 Beatles albums to it.

You do realise that some of those albums are still selling??

Here's the all time list from 14 june 2009:

01) GREATEST HITS – QUEEN - 5,678,610 - (1981)
02) SGT PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND – THE BEATLES - 4,908,288 - (1967)
03) GOLD: GREATEST HITS – ABBA - 4,610,813 - (1992)
04) (WHAT'S THE STORY) MORNING GLORY? – OASIS - 4,421,505 - (1995)
05) BROTHERS IN ARMS - DIRE STRAITS - 4,069,764 - (1985)
06) THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON - PINK FLOYD - 3,956,177 - (1973)
07) THRILLER - MICHAEL JACKSON - 3,825,857- (1982)
08) GREATEST HITS II – QUEEN - 3,746,404 - (1991)
09) BAD - MICHAEL JACKSON - 3,554,301 - (1987)
10) THE IMMACULATE COLLECTION - MADONNA - 3,402,160 - (1990)

http://www.bpi.co.uk/assets/files/top%2040%20albums.pdf

So in just over 2 years, Queen have sold nearly 200k more, Abba astonishingly nearly 400k more etc. So by the time she gets to 5-6 million (which she will do), some of these other artists will have continued to have sold more. I suspect Queen will break 6 million before she does.

Now will she EVER go past Queen in say 20-30 years?? Probably but I don't she her blasting past Queen in the next year or two at least not in the immediate future. Then of course we have to deal with Queen member deaths and all that (sinisterly said I know...)