List of best-selling albums by year in the United Kingdom

This is a list of the best-selling albums in the United Kingdom each year. The sales figures given are only within that year, but each album has sold more copies overall.

The Beatles went on to earn the most best-selling albums of the year, five times with With the Beatles (1963), Beatles for Sale (1964), Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), Abbey Road (1969) and 1 (2000).

Adele had the best-selling album four times, the most for a female artist with 21 (2011), 25 (2015, 2016) and 30 (2021).

ABBA had the best-selling album of the year three times with Greatest Hits (1976), Arrival (1977) and Super Trouper (1980).

Madonna had the best-selling album of 1986 with True Blue.

Kylie Minogue had the best-selling album of 1988 with her debut album Kylie.

Ed Sheeran has earned the best-selling album of the year twice with X (2014) and ÷ (2017).

Taylor Swift had the best-selling album of 2024 with The Tortured Poets Department.

Best-selling albums by year

Year	Album	Artist	Number sold	Ref
1956	Carousel	Original soundtrack
1957	The King and I
1958	My Fair Lady	Broadway Cast recording
1959	South Pacific	Original soundtrack
1960
1961	G.I. Blues	Elvis Presley
1962	West Side Story	Original soundtrack
1963	With the Beatles	The Beatles
1964	Beatles for Sale
1965	The Sound of Music	Original soundtrack
1966
1967	Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band	The Beatles	751,000
1968	The Sound of Music	Original soundtrack
1969	Abbey Road	The Beatles
1970	Bridge over Troubled Water	Simon and Garfunkel
1971
1972	20 Dynamic Hits	Various Artists
1973	Aladdin Sane	David Bowie
1974	The Singles: 1969–1973	The Carpenters
1975	The Best of the Stylistics	The Stylistics
1976	Greatest Hits	ABBA
1977	Arrival
1978	Saturday Night Fever	Original soundtrack
1979	Parallel Lines	Blondie
1980	Super Trouper	ABBA
1981	Kings of the Wild Frontier	Adam and the Ants
1982	Love Songs	Barbra Streisand
1983	Thriller	Michael Jackson
1984	Can't Slow Down	Lionel Richie
1985	Brothers in Arms	Dire Straits
1986	True Blue	Madonna
1987	Bad	Michael Jackson
1988	Kylie	Kylie Minogue
1989	Ten Good Reasons	Jason Donovan
1990	...But Seriously	Phil Collins
1991	Stars	Simply Red
1992
1993	Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell	Meat Loaf
1994	Cross Road	Bon Jovi
1995	Robson & Jerome	Robson & Jerome	2,040,000	[1]
1996	Jagged Little Pill	Alanis Morissette	1,627,000	[2]
1997	Be Here Now	Oasis	1,740,000	[1]
1998	Talk on Corners	The Corrs	1,676,439	[3]
1999	Come On Over	Shania Twain	2,201,842
2000	1	The Beatles	1,850,101
2001	No Angel	Dido	1,920,167
2002	Escapology	Robbie Williams	1,410,931
2003	Life for Rent	Dido	2,168,302	[4]
2004	Scissor Sisters	Scissor Sisters	1,594,259	[3]
2005	Back to Bedlam	James Blunt	2,367,758	[5]
2006	Eyes Open	Snow Patrol	1,514,554	[3]
2007	Back to Black	Amy Winehouse	1,883,897
2008	Rockferry	Duffy	1,685,000	[6]
2009	I Dreamed a Dream	Susan Boyle	1,632,732	[7]
2010	Progress	Take That	1,841,148	[8]
2011	21	Adele	3,772,346	[9]
2012	Our Version of Events	Emeli Sandé	1,393,000	[10]
2013	Midnight Memories	One Direction	685,000	[11]
2014	x	Ed Sheeran	1,689,000	[12]
2015	25	Adele	2,496,000	[13]
2016			753,000	[14]
2017	÷	Ed Sheeran	2,700,000	[15]
2018	The Greatest Showman: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack	Original soundtrack	1,600,000	[16]
2019	Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent	Lewis Capaldi	641,000	[17]
2020			456,000	[18]
2021	30	Adele	600,000	[19]
2022	Harry's House	Harry Styles	460,000	[20]
2023	The Highlights	The Weeknd	391,000	[21]
2024	The Tortured Poets Department	Taylor Swift	783,800	[22]

Best-selling albums by decade

Decade	Album	Artist(s)	Number sold	Ref
1950s	South Pacific	Original soundtrack
1960s	Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band	The Beatles
1970s	Bridge over Troubled Water	Simon & Garfunkel
1980s	Brothers in Arms	Dire Straits
1990s	(What's the Story) Morning Glory?	Oasis	3,000,000	[23]
2000s	Back to Bedlam	James Blunt	3,200,000	[24]
2010s	21	Adele	5,170,000	[25]

See also

• List of best-selling singles by year in the United Kingdom
• List of best-selling compilation albums by year in the United Kingdom