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

1970

The best-selling album of the year was The Beatles's Let it Be

1971

John Lennon's (Imagine) was the biggest album of '71 and was one of the biggest of all time.

1972

John Lennon had 1972's biggest album with Sometime in New York City poop

1973

The best-selling album of the year was John Lennon's Mind Games

1974

The biggest-selling album of 1974 was Walls and Bridges by John Lennon

1975

The biggest album of '75 was Rock 'N' Roll

1976

Wings had the biggest album of the bicentennial year with Wings at the Speed of Sound

1977

The best-selling album of the year was Ringo Starr's Ringo the 4th

1978

The biggest album of '78 was London Town

1979

52nd Street by Billy Joel was '79's biggest album

1980

The best-selling album of the year was Pink Floyd's The Wall

1981

The best-selling album of the year was REO Speedwagon's Hi Infidelity.

1982

The best-selling album of the year was Asia's Asia.

1983

The best-selling album of the year was Michael Jackson's Thriller.

1984

The best-selling album of the year was Michael Jackson's Thriller.

1985

The best-selling album of the year was Bruce Springsteen 's Born In The U.S.A.

1986

The best-selling album of the year was Whitney Houston 's debut album. This album was released a year ago in 1985.

1987

The best-selling album of the year was Bon Jovi ´s Slippery When Wet.

1988

The best-selling album of the year was George Michael's Faith.

1989

The best-selling album of the year was Bobby Brown 's Don't Be Cruel .

1990

The best-selling album of the year was Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814. It was actually released in the year 1989. The album went on to spwan hits from 1989 to 1991 lodging an astounding seven top five hit singles.

1991

The best-selling album of the year was Mariah Carey's self-titled album, although it was released in 1990.

1992

Garth Brooks's Ropin' the Wind was the best-selling album of 1992. His No Fences was the 8th best-selling album of 1992.

Michael Jackson's Dangerous was second and Nirvana's Nevermind was third. Michael Jackson's Dangerous album is recognized by the Grammy Awards as being the best-selling album of 1992 as it sold more albums worldwide than any other album of that year.

1993

The Bodyguard Soundtrack was the best-selling album of the year and "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston was the most successful song of the year. The most successful non soundtrack album belonged to Janet Jackson's janet, which also set a record by becoming the first album by a female to debut at number one during the soundscan era.

1994

Ace Of Base 's The Sign was the best-selling album of 1994 in the U.S. It also was, at the time, the best-selling debut ever with more than 20 million copies sold in the world, with a secure 8 million copies sold in the U.S. alone. However, it was beaten in the coming years by the Backstreet Boys when their debut album Backstreet Boys sold 14 million copies in the U.S. and sold over 30 million worldwide. But no debut album has ever sold more copies (17 million) in the U.S. alone than Boston's self-titled debut effort in 1976.

It was the last time a performer had a #1 album and a #1 single in the annual chart until 2003 when 50 Cent topped both charts. The same was true for Usher (in 2004) Mariah Carey (in 2005) and Carrie Underwood (in 2006).

1995

Hootie and the Blowfish's album Cracked Rear View was the best-selling album in the United States. Garth Brooks with his The Hits album came in second and Boys II Men with II was placed third. [1]

1996

Alanis Morissette became a massive star with her debut album Jagged Little Pill, which sold more than 16 million copies in the United States and 30 million worldwide. In second Celine Dion's Falling Into Youwhich sold more than 25 million copies in world and in third Mariah Carey's Daydream, which despite being released later in the year in September, sold 4 million copies in 4 months and eventually sold 10 million copies [17 million worldwide] Jewel was a hit in 1996, with the release of her album Pieces of You which eventually sold 12,000,000 copies.

1997

The Best selling album this year was late Notorious B.I.G's Hiphop Classic Life After Death Selling Over 10 million copies and got certified Diamond By RIAA. The second best-selling album was No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom.

Shania Twain's Come on Over finished third in US sales during its release year, but ranks today as perhaps the best selling album of all time by a female artist. An estimated 28 million copies have sold worldwide, including over 20 million in the US, where the RIAA has certified the album 20x platinum. It never reached #1 in the Billboard or in the annual charts, but it was a Top 5 album in the annual chart in both 1998 and in 1999.

1998

Celine Dion did very well in 1998 and her album Let's Talk About Love was the second best-selling album of the year tied with the Backstreet Boys's self-titled debut album Backstreet Boys. Lauryn Hill had the best-selling album of the year with 8.2 million sold in the U.S. and 18 million sold worldwide.

1999

Backstreet Boys' Millennium sold a record-breaking 1.13 million copies in its first week, and sold 10,365,732 copies to date, another record. The album was certified 11 times platinum by December 1999 making it the fastest-selling album in a year.

The most successful song of the year was Cher's "Believe". In the Top 5, Britney Spears's ...Baby One More Time was second (8.3 million copies). Ricky Martin was also in the Top 5.

2000

*NSYNC sold 2.4 million records in the first week, beaten the Millenium album of Backstreet Boysas fastest selling album in its first week, becoming the fastest-selling album ever and went on to sell 9,936,104 copies of No Strings Attached in 2000.

The second best-selling album was Britney Spears Oops!... I Did It Again with 9 million copies sold.

2001

Hybrid Theory by Linkin Park was the best-seller of the year 2001 in the United States. Hybrid Theory is certified Diamond (10 times Platinum) in the U.S. by RIAA. However the Backstreet Boys 3rd released album Black and Blue made a world record as the fastest selling album in its first week worldwide, which solds 5 million copies, and made a world record again as Top selling Boy Band of all time. This was also the year where the Backstreet Boys notch on No.6, as one of the world's top money maker celebrity.

2002

Eminem- The Eminem show sold 7.9 million units in 2002 going on to sell 9.6 million by 2006.

2003

50 Cent had the best-selling album of the year with his hit Get Rich or Die Trying, selling 6.0 million copies in the U.S.

2004

Usher's Confessions was the best-selling album for the year and sold 9 million copies in 2004 and 1.1 million in its first week.

The album spawned four #1 hits. The first single, "Yeah", was the most successful song of the year spending 12 weeks at the top of the HOT 100 and being replaced by Usher with the song "Burn", which spent eight weeks at the top. "My Boo", a duet with Alicia Keys, and "Confessions Part II" also reached the top. Usher was the first artist to spend the majority of the year (28 weeks) at the top of the chart.{{uncited}

A limited edition of the album also helped it to achieve 8 million copies.

2005

Mariah Carey's The Emancipation of Mimi became the best-selling album of the year, and eventually sold 10 million copies worldwide. The album produced two #1 singles, one #2 hit, and another Top 20 chart. In the last week of 05, The Emancipation ousted The Massacre by a slim 4.88-4.83 million margin.

50 Cent's The Massacre became the second best-selling selling 1.1 million copies in its first 4 days and 4.83 million copies in total. 11 million world wide making it the best selling album world wide.

Kelly Clarkson came in at third place with her sophomore album Breakaway, which sold over 3.5 million copies and spawned 4 Top 10 songs and an additional Top 15 hit. It has been certified 6x platinum with continual sales.

Green Day's American Idiot sold around 3.5 million copies in the U.S. (4 million of them in 2005 alone), depending on if digital album sales are counted. It has sold 13 million copies worldwide. It spawned two Top 10 hits, "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" and "Wake Me Up When September Ends".

Mariah Carey also had the most successful song of 2005 with "We Belong Together", followed by Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl", Mario's "Let Me Love You" and Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone".

Shakira's Fijacion Oral Vol.1 became best-selling Spanish album ever,selling over 6 million copies.

This was also the return of the Biggest selling boy band of all time, the Backstreet Boy's come back album "Incomplete". But however it never held a record it only solds 1 million copies in the US, and 2.5 million copies worldwide at the end of the year. Unlike their previous 3 albums, which made a world record and history in the world of music.

2006

Carrie Underwood's debut album Some Hearts was the best-selling album of 2006 according to Billboard, selling an impressive 3.75 million copies this year. However, this album was released back in November of 2005. Overall it has sold 4.69 million copies and is currently at quintiple-platinum status for shipments of over 5 million albums.

Nickelback's album All the Right Reasons was also one of the year's best selling, but was released in October of 2005. The best seller for an album released this year goes to the soundtrack for High School Musical. Through the course of January 06 to the end of the year, it has amassed 3.57 million copies. It became the first soundtrack to be the top selling CD of the year since Whitney Houston's The Bodyguard in 1993.

Another one of the year's top sellers was a sophomore effort. Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveSounds, which despite being released only in September, it sold close to 2.5 million copies.

Another soundtrack made quite a splash, though a lot later in the year. The Hannah Montana Soundtrack, released in October, pulled off the 2nd highest sales in the last week of 06. It was 2nd on the chart next to the debut of Nas' Hip Hop Is Dead. Hannah Montana has sold almost 2 million copies (19 million, to be exact).

The controversial Dixie Chicks released their first album in 3 years, titled Taking the Long Way (released in late May of 2006). It has garnered around 1.8 million in sales.

Overall, the best selling albums were surprisingly the ones who were released later in the year (with the exception of High School Musical). Compared to last year, however, this year's 3.5 million High School Musical is shy of last year's best seller The Emancipation of Mimi, which stood at 4.88 million a year ago.

For top songs of the year (by statistics according to Billboard.com), the #1 song of the year was Daniel Powter's Bad Day. #2 was Sean Paul's Temperature. #3 was the team of Nelly Furtado and Timbaland, with Promiscuous. #4 was UK crossover star James Blunt's You're Beautiful. Rounding out the top 5 was Shakira's collaboration with Wyclef Jean in Hips Don't Lie.