New updated list issued by the OCC on the 60'th Anniversary of the album chart. Radio 2 will play this chart on August Bank Holiday Monday.

POS TITLE ARTIST YEAR HIGHEST CHART POSN

1 GREATEST HITS QUEEN 1981 1 6.1 million
2 GOLD - GREATEST HITS ABBA 1992 1 5.2 million
3 SGT PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND BEATLES 1967 1 5.1 million
4 21 ADELE 2011 4.9 milion
5 WHAT'S THE STORY MORNING GLORY OASIS 1995 1 4.7 million
6 THRILLER MICHAEL JACKSON 1982 1
7 THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON PINK FLOYD 1973 2
8 BROTHERS IN ARMS DIRE STRAITS 1985 1
9 BAD MICHAEL JACKSON 1987 1
10 GREATEST HITS II QUEEN 1991 1 4 million
11 RUMOURS FLEETWOOD MAC 1977 1
12 THE IMMACULATE COLLECTION MADONNA 1990 1
13 BACK TO BLACK AMY WINEHOUSE 2006 1
14 STARS SIMPLY RED 1991 1
15 COME ON OVER SHANIA TWAIN 1997 1
16 LEGEND BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS 1984 1
17 BACK TO BEDLAM JAMES BLUNT 2004 1
18 URBAN HYMNS VERVE 1997 1
19 BAT OUT OF HELL MEAT LOAF 1977 9
20 1 BEATLES 2000 1
21 BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER SIMON & GARFUNKEL 1970 1
22 DIRTY DANCING ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK 1987 4
23 SPIRIT LEONA LEWIS 2007 1
24 CRAZY LOVE MICHAEL BUBLE 2009 1
25 NO ANGEL DIDO 2000 1
26 WHITE LADDER DAVID GRAY 1998 1
27 25 ADELE 2015 1
28 TALK ON CORNERS CORRS 1997 1
29 SPICE SPICE GIRLS 1996 1
30 THE FAME LADY GAGA 2008 1

Quite a good varied playlist of songs. Who said sales figures don't equal quality !

Bat Out Of Hell only ever reached No.9 but has been a steady seller for many years.

Shania Twain is a bit of a surprise, thought Play and Jagged Little Pill might have been on the list as well.

I'm a bit disappointed that the top Irish artist in the list is The Corrs, I would have hoped it would be U2.

Interesting. Seeing that i'm in Australia at the moment i looked up the top 30 there. Not really that much of a difference tbh.

1 Bat Out Of Hell - Meatloaf
2 Brothers In Arms - Dire Straits
3 Gold: Greatest Hits - ABBA
4 Thriller - Michael Jackson
5 The Best Of ABBA - ABBA
6 Come On Over - Shania Twain
7 Innocent Eyes - Delta Goodrem
8 Greatest Hits - Queen
9 21 - Adele
10 Jagged Little Pill - Alanis Morissette
11 Music Box - Mariah Carey
12 The Dark Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd
13 Grease: Original Soundtrack - Various Artists
14 Born In The USA - Bruce Springsteen
15 Falling Into You - Celine Dion
16 The Very Best Of Crowded House - Crowded House
17 Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
18 Christmas - Michael Buble
19 Arrival - ABBA
20 Back In Black - AC/DC
21 The Immaculate Collection - Madonna
22 Savage Garden - Savage Garden
23 Metallica - Metallica
24 The Complete Greatest Hits - The Eagles
25 Dirty Dancing Original Soundtrack - Various Artists
26 Forrest Gump Original Soundtrack - Various Artists
27 Cross Road - Bon Jovi
28 Come Away With Me - Norah Jones
29 I'm Not Dead - Pink
30 Funhouse - Pink

JLP is No.41.

I'm not surprised by Shania. I knew Come On Over was a massive seller internationally. It's even at No.6 in the Australian best sellers chart that dee123 posted.

I am surprised that the Saturday Night Fever & Grease soundtracks were not in the Top 30 though. I'm guessing they're floating around in the 30s somewhere.

Surprised by Amy Winehouse, David Gray and Dido to be honest.

Interesting how many acts on the list were effectively "one album wonders" (David Gray, The Corrs, Dido) who couldn't replicate their success with subsequent releases.

2 from the 2010s
7 from the 2000s
10 from the 1990s
6 from the 1980s
4 from the 1970s
1 from the 1960s

So the 90s and 00s are the bestselling eras for pop music.

Only Adele features from the 2010s and only The Beatles from the 1960s.

Thought i check Canada too. I could only find the top ten though. A bit different. Aqua? Really Canada?

1 Thriller - Michael Jackson
2 Come On Over - Shania Twain
3 Let's Talk About Love - Celine Dion
4 21 - Adele
5 The Bodyguard Soundtrack - Various Artists
6 Romanza - Andrea Bocelli
7 1 - The Beatles
8 Up! - Shania Twain
9 Aquarium - Aqua
10 Surfacing - Sarah McLachlan

Dido has her first two albums in the Top 40.

A lot of good albums up there in the top 30 but I would have been more interested in a top 100. The albums just outside the very top.

Here's the next 30. They haven't issued a Top 100.

31 A RUSH OF BLOOD TO THE HEAD COLDPLAY 2002 1
32 LIFE FOR RENT DIDO 2003 1
33 ONLY BY THE NIGHT KINGS OF LEON 2008 1
34 BEAUTIFUL WORLD TAKE THAT 2006 1
35 HOPES AND FEARS KEANE 2004 1
36 THE JOSHUA TREE U2 1987 1
37 THE WAR OF THE WORLDS JEFF WAYNE 1978 5
38 SCISSOR SISTERS SCISSOR SISTERS 2004 1
39 BUT SERIOUSLY PHIL COLLINS 1989 1
40 X&Y COLDPLAY 2005 1
41 JAGGED LITTLE PILL ALANIS MORISSETTE 1995 1
42 TUBULAR BELLS MIKE OLDFIELD 1973 1
43 THE MAN WHO TRAVIS 1999 1
44 TRACY CHAPMAN TRACY CHAPMAN 1988 1
45 PARACHUTES COLDPLAY 2000 1
46 GREATEST HITS ABBA 1975 1
47 GREASE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK 1977 1
48 I'VE BEEN EXPECTING YOU ROBBIE WILLIAMS 1998 1
49 X ED SHEERAN 2014 1
50 COME AWAY WITH ME NORAH JONES 2002 1
51 GRACELAND PAUL SIMON 1986 1
52 THE SOUND OF MUSIC ORIGINAL CAST RECORDING 1965 1
53 LADIES & GENTLEMEN - THE BEST OF GEORGE MICHAEL 1998 1
54 TANGO IN THE NIGHT FLEETWOOD MAC 1987 1
55 THE MARSHALL MATHERS LP EMINEM 2000 1
56 SWING WHEN YOU'RE WINNING ROBBIE WILLIAMS 2001 1
57 PROGRESS TAKE THAT 2010 1
58 EYES OPEN SNOW PATROL 2006 1
59 NEVER FORGET - THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION TAKE THAT 2005 2
60 AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE REM 1992 1

How are any of those "one album wonders"?

Dido's second album, Life for Rent, has sold 2.8 million copies, that's only 200,000 copies behind No Angel.

The Corrs have sold 900,000 copies of Forgiven, Not Forgotten and In Blue.

David Gray has sold 1.2 million copies of A New Day at Midnight and 600,000 copies of Life in Slow Motion.


Yes, they didn't maintain massive sales and number positions over decades, but not many artists do.

Fair enough with Dido, but several of the rest all had one massive selling album which their other releases haven't come close to, like Tracy Chapman.

I guess because no-one else has mentioned surprise at it, that it must be common knowledge (that I didn't know) that the "dirty Dancing" soundtrack was so massive.

Greatest Hits albums/compilations really shouldn't count. Or at least should be a separate list.

It's a list of the top selling albums. The greatest hits in the list sold more than others. You can't bury facts.

So, 31- 60 has a similar pattern to 1-30

2 from the 2010s
13 from the 2000s
5 from the 90s
5 from the 80s
4 from the 70s
1 from the 60s

So the UK's musical taste is best defined by the music of the 2000s - influence of the talent shows?

I seem to have more in common with the Aussies - I bought 7 albums off their list, and only 3 from the UK top 30, and 2 from the next 30.

Compilations were taken out of the main album chart in 1989, you could make a similar argument for Greatest hits.

have we discovered whether these greatest charts are pure physical or digital sales only or do they now include a web based viewing/play as well?

I think that it is kind of sad if it is the latter as the artists/acts previous to this website play count perhaps would have benefited.

The sales of '21' are quite extraordinary given the era it was released, i.e the illegal downloading age not to mention even the legal downloaders tend to cherry pick album tracks as opposed to full albums. Not forgetting the 3 albums above '21' not only have benefitted from having been on sale for many more years but also would undoubtedly have also benefitted from the various format changes since the album was released.

That is why there is a definite argument to state '21' is, in real terms, not only the biggest selling album of all time in the UK but, arguably, is up there with 'Thriller' in Worldwide terms...