A bit of an oddity seeing The Beatles present here amongst so many fresher faces! Not complaining though as they're my favourite band, colossal sales there for their no.1's album!

180 (129) GREEN DAY (1,850,000) 2005 1.1191

 

http://www.geekstinkbreath.net/data/images/articles/ema2005/greenday.jpg

 

Conceived as a rock opera the “American Idiot” album is, by some stretch, the biggest era for the band who were already 11 years into their career by this point. The group were producing more elaborate videos in the era which were more story based (as you might expect for a concept album) and helped to raise the profile of the band and gave them 3 of their career total of 5 top 10 hits.

 

179 (168) NICKELBACK (1,640,000) 2008 1.1228

 

http://www.concerts10.com/wp-content/uploads/foto-de-nickelback-american-music-awards-2008.jpg

 

Few songs in last 10 years have got such a bad rap as “Rockstar” but obviously someone liked it as it’s partly responsible for Nickelback’s appearance on this list. The song took 17 weeks to finally peak at No 2 and spent 14 weeks inside the top 10 meaning we were all heartily sick of it by the end. Not bad for a band who many thought would never top the success of “How You Remind Me”.

 

178 (142) KEANE (1,763,000) 2004 1.1228

 

http://www.keane.it/images/biofoto.jpg

 

Beaten to the honour of having the best selling album of 2004 by only 582 copies behind the Scissor Sisters, no revenge is gained here by Keane who at least boasted more top 10 singles than their 2004 rivals. They were notable at the time for one of the few indie rock bands who used the piano as their lead instrument instead of guitar, they won the BBC “sound of” award in 2004 and by the following year were picking up BRITS marking their arrival on the UK music scene.

 

NICKELBACK. 🌚

177 (139) TRAVIS (1,779,000) 1999 1.1455

 

http://nme.assets.ipccdn.co.uk/images/gallery/84_Travis_L241105_L.jpg

 

Pretty much also rans in chart terms pre 1999 they had benefitted from the patronage of Noel Gallagher (when that was something of note) who got them to support Oasis on tour in 1998. Their second album “The Man Who.....” hardly set the charts alight until airplay started to pick up for “Why Does It Always Rain On Me” which became their first top 10 single and saw the album reactivate to sell 1.4 million by the time 1999 came to a close. Their success lay the foundation for the likes of Coldplay and Keane in the coming years.

 

176 (158) BASTILLE (1,673,000) 2013 1.1640

 

http://media.ents24network.com/image/000/110/808/d2a6a072c7063cefff0c0fec6a3a7a6bb288c841.jpg

 

One of the most recent entries onto this survey, Bastille started out as a solo project by main man Dan Smith (who shares his birthday with Bastille Day in France- hence the name) with the group forming around him and coming together in 2010 with the release of their debut single “Flaws”. A move to a major label followed in 2011 and a series of singles raised the profile of the band if not exactly generating big singles until major breakthrough “Pompeii” hit No 2 in early 2013 which was followed by their debut album which became one of the few albums to shift in any kind of reasonably large volumes in the year. The album was re-issued in November 2013 after the success of the mash up “Of The Night” which provided another No 2 for them.

 

175 (172) TEXAS (1,630,000) 1997 1.1652

 

http://www.texas-heaven.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/groupe-texas-1997-07.jpg

 

If this is teaching me anything it’s that the music industry is cutting its own throat by getting rid of acts too quickly if they throw out the odd dud, first Moby and here Texas prove that you can generate big bucks long after your debut. It took 8 years from their first hit “I Don’t Want A Lover” to come up with “White On Blonde”, in between they’d released 10 singles which had all missed the top 10 but from the album they pulled five top 10ers on the trot thanks in part to renewed endorsement from Radio 1.

 

174 (145) SCISSOR SISTERS (1,760,000) 2006 1.1896

 

http://www.dashusland.com/images/scissorsistersneon.jpg

 

A million selling debut album in 2004 established the band as one of the big hitters, and by 2006 the UK public was primed ready for the famed difficult album from them and initially it didn’t disappoint with lead single “I Don’t Feel Like Dancing” hitting No 1 for 4 weeks and the album “Ta-Dah!” which sold 288k in its first 7 days, but once the hype and frenzy subsided folk seem less impressed with the period but not before 1.7 million people parted with their cash.

 

ALSO BIG IN: 2004

 

173 (162) STEREOPHONICS (1,668,000) 2001 1.1849

 

http://ax22mp.free.fr/stereophonics3.jpg

 

BEST SELLING YEAR: 1999

 

They sold more in 1999 but a sterling performance in 2001 gets them here. That year saw the release of their third album “Just Enough Education To Perform” which sold 950,000 by the year end and 1.8 million by the decade end marking a true reflection of the zenith of their popularity. In addition they scored three top 10 singles though that accounted for just over 400,000 in total, they continued to produce million selling albums until the mid 00s but didn’t quite recapture the glory days of 99-01.

 

172 (111) PITBULL (1,957,000) 2011 1.2116

 

 

So he may have been primarily known as a rent-a-rapper but in 2011 Pitbull moved into his own league as the main artist on “Give Me Everything” which even managed to outsell his guest spot on Jennifer Lopez’s “On The Floor” and gave him combined singles sales of over 1.6 million from those two tracks alone.

 

ALSO BIG IN : 2014

 

Pitbull *.* Plenty of variety in this countdown, I love it :D

171 (150) GABRIELLE (1,726,000) 2001 1.2225

 

http://www.gabrielle.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/gabrielle.jpg

 

Proving the power that a big selling album can have on this list Gabrielle sold just shy of a million in 7 weeks in late 2001 with a Greatest Hits compilation which became the Christmas No 2 album. Coupled with that she managed to nail the Bridget Jones theme with “Out Of Reach” in what was a final hurrah for the singer who managed 10 top hits between 93-01 but who only made the top 40 once since.

 

170 (179) THE LIGHTHOUSE FAMILY (1,600,000) 1998 1.2240

 

http://www.voice-online.co.uk/sites/default/files/imagecache/455/Lighthouse_Family.jpg

 

Their first two albums sold a combined total of 2.7 million, and with radio friendly (if rather bland in some folks eyes) tunes they managed to accrue 1.6 million sales in 98 alone. The band pulled three top 10 singles from their second album “Postcards From Heaven” including “High” in January 1998 which was their biggest seller and spent an impressive 7 weeks in the top 10 whilst never climbing higher than No 4, a good achievement in the late 90s.

 

So this is just counting single sales ?

169 (130) GIRLS ALOUD (1,848,000) 2008 1.2648

 

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/12_02/girlsaloud101207_468x420.jpg

 

So in the eternal fight between Girls Aloud and Sugababes it’s GA who win the battle here but who would have predicted 2008 to be the year they would do it. One of the main factors in the group’s success this year (as opposed to before) was the increased publicity surrounding Cheryl Cole during her debut stint in the X Factor which also saw the group score their third No 1 with “The Promise” and their first studio album chart topper with “Out Of Control”.

 

So this is just counting single sales ?

No, albums and singles

No, albums and singles

 

Girls Aloud have sold a lot more than 1,848,000 if it includes albums though?

Girls Aloud have sold a lot more than 1,848,000 if it includes albums though?

The OP contains how these figures were arrived at. The sales figures quoted here are their best in one calendar year. :D

Stereophonics were so awful in 2001/2002.