109 (149) AQUA (1,735,000) 1997 1.8976

 

http://www.eurokdj.com/images/videos/captures/clip_aqua-barbie_girl.jpg

 

Emerging from Denmark like a phoenix from the lame “Barbie Girl” was one of the joys of late 97, equally catchy and annoying and eased over the 1.5 million mark in just 12 weeks spending a month at the top and dethroning The Spice Girls. They angered Mattel who claimed that “Barbie Girl” infringed their copyright which only helped to keep the song in the public consciousness for a little while longer- they managed to extent their career into the early 00s not bad for an act considered a novelty.

 

ALSO BIG IN: 1998

 

108 (159) PETER ANDRE (1,670,000) 1996 1.9025

 

http://www.waterloofilmstudios.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/16-Peter-Andre.jpg

 

Long before the marriage to Jordan, the frolic in the Jungle and the Iceland ads, Andre was a bonafide popstar whose sixpack and smouldering looks were all the girls of 1996 seemed to want. Topping both singles and album charts with seeming ease and a relationship with a spice girl (Mel B) was brief but kept him the limelight into 1997 before we all got rather bored of him- for a while.

 

107 (47) DIDO (2,698,000) 2003 BIGGEST ACT 1.9042

 

http://www.tkshare.com/pic/20110831/20110831141538792.jpeg

 

Well of the last three who’d a thunk Dido would have come out on top? Easy to forget now just how much selling power back in the day she had when her first album “No Angel” topped the 3 million mark and in 2003 follow up “Life For Rent” was ready for release. First single “White Flag” became her highest charting single and the album sold 152,000 in its first day and over 400,000 by the week end and 2.1 million after its first three months on sale.

 

ALSO BIG IN: 2001

 

Slay Dido! That's pretty much all my faves gone and we're not even top 100 #irrelevanttaste

Loving this thread!

 

Regarding JT's biggest year.. I think it's safe to say that FS/LS is his masterpiece but due to low singles sales back then and the fact that FS/LS era was divided in two (06/07) 2003 wins here. He had 5 top 5 hits in 06/07 though

Ooo so Leona sold over 1.5 million records in 2008 and 2009 too? Amazing achievement. I hope she manages to get a fraction of that success again with her newest album.

 

Thanks so much for this list btw, really enjoying reading through it!

106 (185) PAUL MCCARTNEY (1,578,000) 1984 1.9164

 

http://www.film.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/paul-mccartney-250.jpg

 

Not the highest placed former Beatle (clue: Ringo Starr isn’t still to come) but Macca had quite a good 80s hitting No 1 with conglomerates Ferry Aid and Scouse Aid (as it was colloquially known at the time), in tandem with Stevie wonder, and in 1984 as a solo act with “Pipes Of Peace”. In the same year McCartney starred in the film “Give My Regards To Broadstreet” which spawned the No 2 single “No More Lonely Nights” and the cutesy “We All Stand Together”, after that it was all downhill.

 

105 (163) THE THOMPSON TWINS (1,666,000) 1984 1.9311

 

http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/4007/discopedia.12/0_2a61b_2dec9_orig.jpg

 

Another group who straddled the Atlantic success wise in the mid 80s with tunes like “Doctor Doctor” and “You Take Me Up” both of which made 1984 their best year! They took their name from characters in the “Tin Tin” comic strip and first found fame on the US club scene before we took note over here.

 

104 (28) PHARRELL (3,133,000) 2014 (2013 BEST SELLING ACT) 1.935

 

http://nowmagazine.media.ipcdigital.co.uk/11140/000023564/aca0_orh480w360/Pharrell-Williams.jpg

 

BEST SELLING YEAR: 2013

 

From his early days as part of N.E.R.D and production outfit The Neptunes, Pharrell Williams is now firmly established as an act in his own right thanks to 2013 which saw him become the most recent “must have” on any track. “Get Lucky” and “Blurred Lines” were of course the two biggest hits of 2013 contributing almost 2.8 million of his sales total here but in 2014 the ever enduring “Happy” wreaked chart domination selling over a million and of course he had his first solo UK No 1 album which bumped sales up nicely in a market which got smaller- hence 2014 is his “better” year..

 

If anyone asked me which out of Dido, Aqua and Peter Andre would be highest I would have easily have picked Dido.

103 (66) MICHAEL BUBLE (2,393,000) 2010 1.9388

 

http://images.contactmusic.com/newsimages/michael_buble_1190378.jpg

 

Whilst he was a successful album act before “Crazy Love” it was really that album that propelled Buble into the big league by selling over 3 million (1.2 million in 2010 alone). Though it is essentially a covers album Buble did release a deluxe version of the album in late 2010 to provide something new for fans during the year with the single “Hollywood” peaking at No 11.

 

ALSO BIG IN: 2009,2011

 

102 (131) CLIFF RICHARD (1,840,000) 1988 1.9449

 

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/WtsYSDgefJ0/hqdefault.jpg

 

What more can be said of Cliff Richard? One of the best selling acts in UK chart history and producing hit singles for decades since though his last top 10 appearance is now 7 years ago. Over the course of the last 35 years he’s never sold more in a calendar year than he did in 1988 when he grabbed the Christmas No 1 with “Mistletoe & Wine” and a simultaneous No 1 album “Private Collection 1979-1988”. That song was his 12th No 1 putting him at the time behind only Elvis and The Beatles in the list of acts with the most chart toppers.

 

101 (188) MEN AT WORK (1,571,000) 1983 1.9560

 

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01430/menAtWork_1430780c.jpg

 

Predating our obsession for Aussies popstars in the late 80s Men At Work were briefly a pan Atlantic phenomenon with “Down under” and their album “Business As Usual” topping both charts simultaneously in both countries becoming the first act since Rod Stewart in 1972 to achieve this feat. It was, bizarrely, their only UK top 20 hit though they had other top 10’s in the US, “Business As Usual” was the best selling album in the UK for 1983 until overtaken by a certain album called “Thriller.

 

Here's the re-cap No's 101-150 folks

 

101 (188) MEN AT WORK (1,571,000) 1983 1.9560

102 (131) CLIFF RICHARD (1,840,000) 1988 1.9449

103 (66) MICHAEL BUBLE (2,393,000) 2010 1.9388

104 (28) PHARRELL (3,133,000) 2014 1.935

105 (163) THE THOMPSON TWINS (1,666,000) 1984 1.9311

107 (47) DIDO (2,698,000) 2003 1.9042

108 (159) PETER ANDRE (1,670,000) 1996 1.9025

109 (149) AQUA (1,735,000) 1997 1.8976

110 (177) SOUL II SOUL (1,613,000) 1989 1.8965

 

111 (181) BARBRA STREISAND (1,592,000) 1980 1.8895

112 (132) PUFF DADDY (1,840,000) 1997 1.8766

113 (57) LEONA LEWIS (2,511,000) 2007 1.8763

114 (165) ROBERT MILES (1,657,000) 1996 1.8709

115 (199) STARSOUND (1,508,000) 1981 1.8642

116 (192) THE DARKNESS (1,544,000) 2003 1.8539

117 (198) HAIRCUT 100 (1,527,000) 1982 1.8530

118 (115) PINK (1,930,000) 2002 1.8343

119 (180) T’PAU (1,598,000) 1987 1.8318

120 (89) BLUE (2,200,000) 2002 1.8224

 

121 (124) SAVAGE GARDEN (1,880,000) 1998 1.8128

122 (41) JESS GLYNNE (2,780,000) 2014 1.7866

123 (96) BLUR (2,130,000) 1995 1.7826

124 (200) HOWARD JONES (1,507,000) 1984 1.7782

125 (182) NELLY (1,580,000) 2002 1.7629

126 (49) DUFFY (2,692,000) 2008 1.7547

127 (93) GEORGE EZRA (2,067,000) 2014 1.7326

128 (183) BOBBY BROWN (1,580,000) 1989 1.7195

129 (52) DAVID GUETTA (2,654,000) 2012 1.6981

130 (153) ELVIS PRESLEY (1,710,000) 2002 1.6930

 

131 (48) AMY WINEHOUSE (2,693,000) 2007 1.6901

132 (86) ALICIA KEYS (2,219,000) 2010 1.6757

133 (118) JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE (1,915,000) 2003 1.6719

134 (98) MIKA (2,098,000) 2007 1.6413

135 (91) THE VERVE (2,190,000) 1997 1.6286

136 (106) LILY ALLEN (2,039,000) 2009 1.6241

137 (53) COLDPLAY (2,120,000) 2011 1.6240

138 (125) ETERNAL (1,877,000) 1997 1.6165

139 (105) OLLY MURS (2,053,000) 2012 1.6102

140 (190) FIVE (1,563,000) 1998 1.6096

 

141 (193) SASH! (1,538,000) 1997 1.6076

142 (64) THE CORRS (2,400,000) 1998 1.6042

143 (152) CHRISTINA AGUILERA (1,711,000) 2003 1.6037

144 (161) BACKSTREET BOYS (1,669,000) 1997 1.5581

145 (94) TINIE TEMPAH (2,157,000) 2010 1.5367

146 (75) ELLIE GOULDING (2,283,000) 2013 1.5325

147 (62) NICKI MINAJ (2,426,000) 2012 1.5308

148 (171) PULP (1,630,000) 1995 1.5095

149 (194) ERASURE (1,533,000) 1989 1.5006

150 (154) DESTINY’S CHILD (1,707,000) 2001 1.4984

100 (101) BON JOVI (2,085,000) 1994 1.9631

 

http://img.maniadb.com/images/artist/118/118130.jpg

 

From poodle perm rock in the mid 80s to slick stadium rock by the mid 90s Bon Jovi scored 8 straight top 10 hits between 1994 and 96 and benefit here from the “Greatest Hits” effect, or attracting buyers to buy a GH set who wouldn’t part with their cash for a studio album. “Cross Road- The Best Of” became the biggest selling album of 1994 after selling almost 1.1 million copies coupled with, the 11 weeks in the top 10, hit “Always”. Only Whigfield managed to stop them from getting their first No 1 single and where is she now eh?

 

ALSO BIG IN: 1995

 

99 (104) BUSTED (2,069,000) 2003 1.9849

 

http://www.virginmedia.com/images/busted-gal-brits.jpg

 

Becoming the first act ever to appear on the cover of “Smash Hits” before releasing a single Busted quickly became the great hope for UK bred pop in the early 00s generating not an inconsiderable amount of good will from the press in the face of the oncoming US R N B onslaught. They only made two studio albums which generated a tally of 1.5 million sales in 2003 along with a couple of No 1 singles before the split in January 2005.

 

I adore Always, simply the best thing Bon Jovi have ever done. Bed of Roses is close though.

Edited June 1, 201510 yr by SKOB

I sorta liked Always. My hardcoee Bon Jovi fan friend was disgusted when I say that.

Edited June 1, 201510 yr by AntoineTTe

Gezza, thanks for this countdown, it's extremely interesting however I'm still a bit confused by a couple of things within it. For certain years, some acts with lower sales than other acts in that year have ended up higher than acts with higher sales for that year. For example, Anastacia has ended up higher than the Scissor Sisters, Keane and Maroon 5 for 2004 despite having lower overall sales for 2004 than the other acts.

Thanks for your kind words. It is not a "pure sales" list as it factors in the relative market size for that year. So to sell a million singles in 2003 would give you a better percentage than selling a million in 2010 for example.