14. SUNNY SIDE UP- Paolo Nutini (883,000)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e6/NutiniSSU.jpg

 

RELEASED: 01:06:09

PEAK POSITION: 1

WKS ON CHART: 79

CHARTING SINGLES:

PENCIL FULL OF LEAD (36)

10/10 (51)

TOTAL SALES: 1,693,400

 

The 8th best selling album of 2009 it sneaked in at No 198 on the top 200 albums of the 00s, and was also the first No 1 album of the current decade making it, briefly, the best seller of the decade. Combined sales of the album now stand at almost 1.7 million to add the 1.4 of his debut, this album was a permanent fixture in the top 40 for 16 months from release and an impressive 38 wks of top 10 action, that follow up has a lot to live up to.

 

I actually prefer Come Around Sundown to Only By The Night.

"Recovery" is an odd one, it was released late enough in the year so that despite its mammoth run at the top it never got close to catching the biggest YTD sellers and it dropped off quite sharply after it left the top 2.

 

The "Come Around Sundown" / "Born This Way" comparison is quite a good one really except that the former is effectively a dull shadow of its predecessor (which was in turn a step down from "Because of the Times", although it's still an excellent pop album) whereas the latter was quite an interesting creative step forward. Had it been "Because of the Times" released in place of "Come Around Sundown" the similarities would have been uncanny.

 

Paolo Nutini should be applauded for selling 3 million albums in the UK without anyone really caring.

I had completely forgotten about how dominant Recovery was for the first few months of its release - overshadowed by the similar but far, far longer lived success of Adele starting about six months later I guess? :lol: Especially as Adele had sales that (more than) reflected the domination. For Recovery to stay in the top 2 for so long from release and still not have sold even 900k yet isn't great.

Edited March 4, 201213 yr by Engelbré

For Recovery to stay in the top 2 for so long from release and still not have sold even 900k yet isn't great.

 

 

Album sales must have been terrible for the period it was Top 2 (the album equivalent of Umbrella?)

Edited March 5, 201213 yr by tonyttt31

Album sales must have been terrible for the period it was Top 2 for (the album equivalent of Umbrella?)

 

#1 sales of Recovery and the albums around it:

 

27/6: 141,023

04/7: 69,045

11/7: 79,153 (Kylie - Aphrodite)

18/7: 49,616

25/7: 41,593

01/8: 39,864

08/8: 61,263 (Arcade Fire - The Suburbs)

15/8: 32,097

22/8: 44,384 (Iron Maiden - The Final Frontier)

29/8: 27,081

 

So it did hold up very well although it had a bit of luck that the big releases over summer were spaced out like that. It started to drop when the usual raft of September releases came out.

13. MYLO XYLOTO- Coldplay (907,648)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/77/Myloxyloto.jpg

 

RELEASED: 24:10:11

PEAK POSITION: 1

WKS ON CHART: 10

CHARTING TRACKS:

PARADISE (1)

EVERY TEARDROP IS A WATERFALL (6)

PRINCESS OF CHINA (33)

CHARLIE BROWN (55)

 

And talking of albums with a lot to live up to, each Coldplay album comes pre burdened with the knowledge that all the previous ones went over the million mark meaning a success by most bands standards (say 800-900k) looks like a failure by theirs. There were fears that “Mylo Xyloto” was going to be the first album to fail to hit this mark after initial sales disappointed but an appearance on X Factor and the single “Paradise” have helped to turn matters around. The album itself is a concept album and wasted no time debuting at the top on both sides of the pond, it became the first album to break the 80k mark in digital downloads in one week.

 

12. TEENAGE DREAM- Katy Perry (922,900)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/ca/Teenage_Dream_album_cover.png

 

RELEASED: 30:08:10

PEAK POSITION: 1

WKS ON CHART: 70

CHARTING TRACKS:

CALIFORNIA GURLS (1)

TEENAGE DREAM (2)

FIREWORK (3)

E.T (3)

LAST FRIDAY NIGHT (T.G.I.F) (9)

THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY (18)

 

Containing five US No 1 singles (only the second studio album ever to do so, “Bad” naturally being the first) Perry has had a phenomenal start to the decade. After the faux lesbian career start with “I Kissed A Girl” Perry hasn’t really put a foot wrong and a high profile marriage (and split) to Russell Brand has helped to keep her in magazines and in the album charts where this has yet to leave since its release!

 

11. LUNGS- Florence + The Machine (951,800)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e5/Lungs_FatM.jpg

 

RELEASED: 06:07:09

PEAK POSITION: 1

WKS ON CHART: 86

CHARTING TRACKS:

YOU GOT THE DIRTEE LOVE (2)

YOU GOT THE LOVE (5)

DOG DAYS ARE OVER (23)

COSMIC LOVE (51)

HEAVY IN MY ARMS (53)

RABBIT HEART (RAISE IT UP) (60)

 

TOTAL SALES: 1,467,700

 

After an initial run which saw it peak at No 2 for 5 straight weeks behind Michael Jackson’s “The Essential” in the summer of 2009 the album finally went all the way to the top in Jan 2010 when “You Got The Love” became their first top 10 single. A stellar performance on the BRITS in early 2010 (where they won best album) almost grabbed them a chart topping single with their Dizzee Rascal duet but that particular accolade still escapes them.

 

10. SIGH NO MORE- Mumford & Sons (1,086,000)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f3/Mumfordsonssighnomore.jpg

 

RELEASED: 02:10:09

PEAK POSITION: 2

WKS ON CHART: 99

CHARTING TRACKS:

LITTLE LION MAN (24)

THE CAVE (31)

WINTER WINDS (44)

TIMSHEL (71)

 

TOTAL SALES: 1,238,000

 

What Florence won in 2010 (best album at the BRITS) so Mumford & Sons won in 2011 causing the album to jump to its peak position in its 72nd week, becoming another victim of Adele. In addition to that BRITS award it was also shortlisted for the Mercury music prize enabling the set to benefit from the subsequent publicity, and resulted in a near constant appearance on the charts, and so despite the lack of a top 20 single this has cleared the million mark and sees us enter the top 10 on the rundown.

 

09. DOO WOPS & HOOLIGANS- Bruno Mars (1,221,201)

 

http://www.chartstats.com/images/artwork/41324.jpg

 

RELEASED: 17:01:11

PEAK POSITION: 1

WKS ON CHART: 50

CHARTING TRACKS:

JUST THE WAY YOU ARE (AMAZING) (1)

GRENADE (1)

LAZY SONG (1)

MARRY YOU (11)

RUNAWAY BABY (19)

 

Never dropping lower than No 14 since it was released, Mars has been one of the decade’s most prolific hitmakers since he burst onto the scene in 2010. With a million selling introductory solo single there was always going to be high demand for his first album, and few were surprised when it duly arrived at No 1 last January, the class of his songwriting long having been established through the likes of B.o.B and Travie McCoy, K’naan, Sugababes (“Get Sexy”) and No 1’s for Cee-Lo Green and Flo Rida (“Right Round”).

 

08. THE DEFAMATION OF STRICKLAND BANKS- Plan B (1,231,000)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2c/The_Defamation_Of_Strickland_Banks.jpg

 

RELEASED: 12:04:10

PEAK POSITION: 1

WKS ON CHART: 83

CHARTING TRACKS:

SHE SAID (3)

STAY TOO LONG (9)

PRAYIN (16)

THE RECLUSE (35)

LOVE GOES DOWN (62)

 

A 14 month tenure in the top 40 assisted by a BRITS, Mobo’s and Q music awards to decorate his mantelpiece, have made Ben Drew’s second album into a million seller. It’s another concept album set to be continued by the long awaited (and seemingly never arriving) “Ballad Of Belmarsh”, in which he plays the protagonist “Strickland Banks” who is falsely accused of rape and sent to prison, when it debuted at No 1 on sales of 68k it instantly outsold his debut set “Who Needs Words When You Got Actions?”.

 

08. THE DEFAMATION OF STRICKLAND BANKS- Plan B (1,231,000)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2c/The_Defamation_Of_Strickland_Banks.jpg

 

RELEASED: 12:04:10

PEAK POSITION: 1

WKS ON CHART: 83

CHARTING TRACKS:

SHE SAID (3)

STAY TOO LONG (9)

PRAYIN (16)

THE RECLUSE (35)

LOVE GOES DOWN (62)

 

A 14 month tenure in the top 40 assisted by a BRITS, Mobo’s and Q music awards to decorate his mantelpiece, have made Ben Drew’s second album into a million seller. It’s another concept album set to be continued by the long awaited (and seemingly never arriving) “Ballad Of Belmarsh”, in which he plays the protagonist “Strickland Banks” who is falsely accused of rape and sent to prison, when it debuted at No 1 on sales of 68k it instantly outsold his debut set “Who Needs Words When You Got Actions?”.

 

 

I initially thought this would lose out to Scouting for Girls when they were both released with "Shed Said" being beaten to the top by "This Ain't A Love Song". I doubt the SFG album has sold much more than a tenth of this.

'Strickland Banks' is the best album i've ever heard.

07. CHRISTMAS- Michael Buble (1,292,762)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8e/MichaelBuble-Christmas(2011)-Cover.png

 

RELEASED: 24:10:11

PEAK POSITION: 1

WKS ON CHART: 10

CHARTING TRACKS:

CHRISTMAS (BABY PLEASE COME HOME) (47)

 

For 7 straight weeks up to Christmas 2011 sales of this album increased week on week from 35k to over 317k as Buble pushed sales though the roof thanks to an ITV special and an X Factor final appearance. Of course sales were always going to be within a relatively strict period and come boxing day sales nose dived from that high down to just 20k and the album moved from No 1 to 15 (the third biggest drop in chart history) not that it really mattered. The album had already sailed over the million mark and Buble swept from nowhere to No 2 on the Y/E chart, a second year in a row that he finished up with the second best seller of the previous 12 months.

 

06. 19- Adele (1,366,600)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fa/Adele19.jpg

 

RELEASED: 28:01:08

PEAK POSITION: 2

WKS ON CHART: 66

CHARTING TRACKS:

MAKE YOU FEEL MY LOVE (4)

 

TOTAL SALES: 1,943,400

 

The use of “Make You Feel My Love” on several episodes of “X Factor” episodes kept the track high in the public consciousness throughout 2010 which spurred this to re-enter the lower regions but it was the release of “21” in last year to catapulted the three year old album into the top 10 for 37 consecutive weeks in 2011. For most of the year she held the top 2 positions on the year end chart with this album being just over 50k short of 2 million sales factoring in its 00s sales, on this decade chart she narrowly misses out on 2 albums in the top 5!

 

05. THE FAME- Lady Gaga (1,387,700)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/38/Album_Cover-The_Fame.jpg

 

RELEASED: 12:01:09

PEAK POSITION: 1

WKS ON CHART: 104

CHARTING TRACKS:

TELEPHONE (1)

BAD ROMANCE (4)

ALEJANDRO (7)

POKER FACE (39)

PAPARAZZI (62)

JUST DANCE (62)

 

TOTAL SALES: 2,776,600

 

One of only two albums on this rundown to chart EVERY week of the decade so far, the first 37 of them in the top 10. It was of course the 2nd biggest album of 2009 and the 3rd biggest of 2010 selling a million in both of those years, it hardly disgraced itself in 2011 selling another third of a million, add them all together and you get over 2.7 million copies. It made Red One THE must have producer for 2009/2010 and transformed Stefani Germanotta into a superstar with four No 1 singles in under 18 months, that looked the easy part, keeping up the momentum seems to be the challenge.

 

Tomorrow your top 4 and a surprise at No 1........or not.

Two of the top 4 are obvious but I can't think who the other 2 could be.

I had no idea that Kings of Leon had sold that much of Come Around Sundown, they really were only so big because of two songs. It's a shame they weren't on either of their previous two albums as they're so much better and could've gone down as all time classics, I always thought they could explode though, they kept getting bigger and bigger and had even headlined Glastonbury on the back of 'Because of the Times', I never expected them to become quite so big though. Come Around Sundown is an OK effort, but their third best album maximum.