60 years ago this month saw the birth of the Official Albums Chart – the UK’s official weekly snapshot of popularity dedicated to one of the most influential art forms of our time.
The first ever chart, which was published in Record Mirror on 22 July 1956, saw Frank Sinatra’s Songs For Swingin’ Lovers landing in the coveted Number 1 slot. Now, over half a century of vinyl, cassette, CD and download-purchasing later, nearly 1,100 albums have hit the top spot in the UK.
To mark the chart’s historic milestone and kick off July’s month-long anniversary celebrations, OfficialCharts.com can today unveil the 60 biggest selling albums of all time here in Britain, as compiled by the Official Charts Company.
The “60 at 60” list also forms the centrepiece of an in-store retail campaign, which sees Official Charts team up with the three major record labels and outlets including Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda, Amazon and Morrisons to promote and sell some of the UK’s biggest selling albums this summer.
Topping the all time best sellers list is Queen’s 1981 Greatest Hits, and stands alone as the first and only album to have sold over 6 million copies in the UK (6.1 million sales to date). Queen’s Greatest Hits II also makes it into the Top 10 at Number 10 with almost 4 million albums sold.
The UK’s official 60 biggest selling albums of all time are…
POS TITLE ARTIST YEAR HIGH POSN
1 GREATEST HITS QUEEN 1981 1
2 GOLD – GREATEST HITS ABBA 1992 1
3 SGT PEPPER’S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND BEATLES 1967 1
4 21 ADELE 2011 1
5 WHAT’S THE STORY MORNING GLORY OASIS 1995 1
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
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
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
