The UK’s ten bestselling albums of all time - how many do you own?

[Jonny Come Lately]

Given that I'm British I'd better start with the UK list first:
1. Queen - Greatest Hits
2. ABBA - GOLD - Greatest Hits
3. Beatles - Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
4. Adele - 21
5. Oasis - What's The Story Morning Glory
6. Michael Jackson - Thriller
7. Pink Floyd - The Dark Side Of The Moon
8. Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms
9. Michael Jackson - Bad
10. Queen - Greatest Hits II

I actually only one of these albums in full - anyone familiar with my musical taste probably won't be too surprised to hear it's number 7. I have downloaded about half of Brothers In Arms too, but haven't got around to purchasing the whole album.

My family also owns numbers 4 and 5, and used to own 2 but our copy was lost. My family aren't fans of Queen or Michael Jackson, and don't own any Beatles either. I'm okay with ABBA although I wouldn't personally choose to listen to them, as for Oasis (no disrespect to their fans) I feel time is providing perspective on their music - some decent hits, but not the world-beaters the media portrayed them as at the time. I find Adele overrated, I don't begrudge her success and can see why people think she's a good singer, but I'm not quite sure how 21 has managed to get so high up the list, especially considering that album sales have declined and she doesn't seem that popular (I doubt Adele has as many fans as the Beatles, Queen and Floyd, in particular).

I think I prefer the US top 40 list, sure there's still some rubbish (Britney, Backstreet Boys etc.) but this is balanced out by several of my favourite classic rock albums - DSOTM makes the list again, but with Led Zeppelin IV, Rumours, The Wall and Hotel California also making the top 40 I'm reasonably content with that list overall, apart from Michael Jackson overtaking the Eagles - although I don't strictly own Their Greatest Hits 1971-75 I have listened to the tracks in that sequence and IMO it's a great album in its own right.

 

[gcczep]

Listed off...

3, 7 and 8

 

[architect]

Queen- Greatest Hits II- I think I had a cassette somewhere.
Pink Floyd-Dark Side Of The Moon -Vinyl, cassette, CD, bootleg..
Queen's 'Greatest Hits' - CD
Michael Jackson- Thriller-- Vinyl
The Beatles -Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band- vinyl, CD

 

[mrJim]

I'm late to game on this one but. I am not at all surprised sales was on vinyl/cd/cassette. comparatively in time there is just not as much music being purchased these days

from the Euro Top 10

Dire Strait's 'Brothers in Arms'
Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side Of The Moon'
Queen's 'Greatest Hits'

Second Ten
Come On Over Shania Twain
Bat Out of Hell Meat Loaf

Go figure right ?

 

[Jet]

The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (CD)

 

[BosPatrollie]

From Yahoo News, the words are theirs and it is certainly in need of editing, but I posted in a hurry. I would assume the US chart to be almost completely different and there are some entries of which I am not proud. Queen and Abba are okay by me, but The Beatles behind them shows the fickle nature of the record buying public:

"The UK’s ten bestselling albums of all time - how many do you own?
The UK's best selling album of all time recently reached six million copies - placing it leagues ahead of the runner-up. Incredibly, most sales of the winning record are on vinyl, cassette tape and CD - with just 124,000 are downloads. Find out whether you own one of these spectacularly popular albums...

10. Queen's 'Greatest Hits II' is not their first album to make it onto the top ten. It was the band's second compilation album and was released just a month before lead singer Freddie Mercury died in 1991.

9. Michael Jackson's 'Bad' is his first appearance in the top ten. The 1987 record was his seventh album and released five years after the legendary 'Thriller'. It was produced by Quincy Jones.

8. Dire Strait's 'Brothers in Arms' has sold more than 30m units worldwide since its 1985 release. It is also one of the best selling albums in Australia.

7. Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side Of The Moon' is the band's most commercially successful album. It was released in 1973 to critical success.

6. Despite being the only American artist to feature on the top ten, Michael Jackson still has two albums on the list. 'Thriller' was released in 1982 and remains the best selling record of all time worldwide - double that of the runner-up Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side Of The Moon'.

5. Oasis 'What's the Story Morning Glory' has sold 4.6m copies in the UK since its release in 1995. At the time the band's second album received lukewarm reviews - but it has since become one of the defining moments in the Brit Pop era. The record features classics such as 'Wonderwall' and 'Don't Look Back in Anger'.

4. Adele's second album '21' is the best selling album of the 21st century in the UK. The record, which was released in 2011, won Adele seven Grammys. It has sold 4.7m copies in the UK.

3. The Beatles 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' was released in 1967 after the band had grown weary of Beatlemania. It has sold 5.1m units and used to be the UK's second biggest selling album until it was overtaken by a certain Swedish foursome.

2. Abba's 'Gold - Greatest Hits' has shifted 5.1m units. The compilation album was released in 1992 - a decade after the Swedish pop group broke up.

1. Queen's 'Greatest Hits' has sold so many copies that a staggering one in four British households have a copy. It is the first record to reach 6m album sales in the UK. First released in 1981, there is no definitive track listing as it differs according to which country it was released in. For example, the first song on the British album is 'Bohemian Rhapsody' but the original U.S. and Canadian addition features 'Another One Bites The Dust' first."

10. Queen's 'Greatest Hits II' - Own it.

8. Dire Strait's 'Brothers in Arms' Own it.

7. Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side Of The Moon' Own it.

6. Despite being the only American artist to feature on the top ten, Michael Jackson still has two albums on the list. 'Thriller' Own it .

3. The Beatles 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' Own it.

1. Queen's 'Greatest Hits' Own it.

 

[Jonny Come Lately]

Distilled into a top twenty, the US top ten albums would be:

1. Thriller, Michael Jackson
2. Eagles: Their Greatest Hits, 1971–1975, Eagles (I don't own this famous compilation, but I do have all of the songs from the original albums)
3. Greatest Hits, Volumes I & II, Billy Joel
4. The Wall, Pink Floyd
5. Led Zeppelin IV, Led Zeppelin
6. Back in Black, AC/DC
7. Double Live, Garth Brooks
8. Come On Over, Shania Twain
10. The Beatles, The Beatles

11. Rumours, Fleetwood Mac
12. Appetite for Destruction, Guns 'N Roses
13. The Beatles: 1967–1970, The Beatles
14. The Bodyguard (soundtrack), Whitney Houston
15. Boston, Boston
16. No Fences, Garth Brooks
17. Physical Graffiti, Led Zeppelin
18. Greatest Hits, Elton John
19. Hotel California, Eagles
20. Cracked Rear View, Hootie & the Blowfish

21. Metallica, Metallica
22. Jagged Little Pill, Alanis Morissette
23. Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd
24. Saturday Night Fever (soundtrack), Bee Gees
25. Born in the U.S.A., Bruce Springsteen
26. The Beatles: 1962–1966, The Beatles
27. Greatest Hits, Journey
28. Supernatural, Santana
29. Simon & Garfunkel's Greatest Hits, Simon & Garfunkel
30. …Baby One More Time, Britney Spears
31. Bat Out of Hell, Meat Loaf
32. Backstreet Boys, Backstreet Boys
33. Ropin' the Wind, Garth Brooks
34. Ten, Pearl Jam
35. Purple Rain (soundtrack), Prince and the Revolution
36. Greatest Hits: 1974–1978, Steve Miller Band (I discovered this in my parents' CD collection, though I have never listened to it myself)
37. Millennium, Backstreet Boys
38. Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band Live: 1975–1985 (box set), Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band
39. Whitney Houston, Whitney Houston (Arista)
40. Led Zeppelin II, Led Zeppelin

Decided to revisit the US top 40 list and have bolded any albums I own (with a couple underlined for reasons I've specified). It turns out I have just seven out of the 40 listed - nine if you if you define owning more loosely - although I'm not sure I'd want to own the full set in any case.

I think it's interesting that Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd are higher up the US list than the UK list, I reckon this might because there are far fewer classic rock radio stations in the UK and their songs tend not to get played often on the main UK radio stations so British listeners have to make more of an effort to go out and listen to their music rather than simply hearing it for free on their car radio (I was surprised when I first read about the overplaying of certain Floyd or Zeppelin songs on radio in the US, as I've only ever heard one Pink Floyd song on the radio - Another Brick In The Wall Part 2 - and have never heard anything by Led Zep).

Also of note is that ABBA - second in the UK list - are nowhere to be seen on the US list, this doesn't surprise me too much as I think ABBA only ever had one US number single. No Oasis either, again they never made it as big in the States as they did in the UK.

Finally, apologies to any Britney Spears or Backstreet Boys fans on here.

 

[recgord27]

Albums I have are in bold. Favourites in red

1. Thriller, Michael Jackson
2. Eagles: Their Greatest Hits, 1971–1975, Eagles - vinyl
3. Greatest Hits, Volumes I & II, Billy Joel - cd
4. The Wall, Pink Floyd - vinyl
5. Led Zeppelin IV, Led Zeppelin - vinyl, cd
6. Back in Black, AC/DC - vinyl
7. Double Live, Garth Brooks
8. Come On Over, Shania Twain
10. The Beatles, The Beatles -vinyl
11. Rumours, Fleetwood Mac - vinyl, cd
12. Appetite for Destruction, Guns 'N Roses - cd
13. The Beatles: 1967–1970, The Beatles - vinyl
14. The Bodyguard (soundtrack), Whitney Houston
15. Boston, Boston - vinyl, cd
16. No Fences, Garth Brooks
17. Physical Graffiti, Led Zeppelin - vinyl, cd
18. Greatest Hits, Elton John -vinyl
19. Hotel California, Eagles - vinyl
20. Cracked Rear View, Hootie & the Blowfish
21. Metallica, Metallica cd
22. Jagged Little Pill, Alanis Morissette - cd
23. Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd - vinyl, cd, cassette, 8-track
24. Saturday Night Fever (soundtrack), Bee Gees
25. Born in the U.S.A., Bruce Springsteen - vinyl
26. The Beatles: 1962–1966, The Beatles - vinyl
27. Greatest Hits, Journey - vinyl
28. Supernatural, Santana
29. Simon & Garfunkel's Greatest Hits, Simon & Garfunkel - vinyl
30. …Baby One More Time, Britney Spears
31. Bat Out of Hell, Meat Loaf - vinyl
32. Backstreet Boys, Backstreet Boys
33. Ropin' the Wind, Garth Brooks
34. Ten, Pearl Jam - cd
35. Purple Rain (soundtrack), Prince and the Revolution
36. Greatest Hits: 1974–1978, Steve Miller Band
37. Millennium, Backstreet Boys
38. Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band Live: 1975–1985 (box set), Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band - vinyl
39. Whitney Houston, Whitney Houston (Arista)
40. Led Zeppelin II, Led Zeppelin - vinyl, cd