Were you working on this list last year?

In part yes.

Great to see Erasure feature, I really wasn't expecting them to. ^_^

 

It is an interesting comparison - even more so when you see just how many some acts have sold, I would never have expected the Minaj to have sold so many in a year for instance, even with Starships included.

 

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

 

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/466/mcs/media/images/48355000/jpg/_48355890_tinie_tempah.jpg

 

He’s got so many clothes he keeps them at his aunt’s house apparently. That aside he generated 1.7 million singles sales from four releases in the main, all of which went top 5 including a couple of No 1 singles and a collaboration with Swedish House Mafia but album “Disc-Overy” disappointed some failing to sell over 400,000 copies by the year end though it did make No 1

 

ALSO BIG IN : 2011

 

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

 

http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/images/list/c6fb42d796102f6a7f08ba20016d7312716497c5.jpg

 

Pretty much mapping their “imperial” phase The Backstreet Boys were always a bigger band here than N*Sync with 13 consecutive top 10 hits spanning 1996-2001. Four Top 4 hits in 1997 plus the 12th biggest album of the year accounts for their position here, again the UK lagged behind Europe where the band broke in 1995 and at the end of the 90s they popularised the “Cheiron” sound (along with Britney) which pretty much dominated the pop charts of 99/00.

 

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

 

http://img2.timeinc.net/instyle/images/2009/transformation/2003-christina-aguilera-400.jpg

 

From her emergence in the bubblegum pop genre with “Genie In A Bottle” Aquilera took control of her public image in 2002 for the “Stripped” album and set out to make her mark as a credible pop star with the visually arresting for “Dirrty” which gave her a third No 1 single in late 02. The following year proved to be her most successful with a fourth chart topper in “Beautiful” and three other singles plucked from the album also hitting the top 10 whilst “Stripped” sailed past the million mark.

 

In part yes.

 

I thought so, since Ellie's commentary mentions Burn as her only no.1 which I doubt would have been mentioned had her section been written this year. Thoroughly enjoyable countdown as always though.

I thought so, since Ellie's commentary mentions Burn as her only no.1 which I doubt would have been mentioned had her section been written this year. Thoroughly enjoyable countdown as always though.

Ooops- I thought I'd done all the updates from when I wrote them but well spotted! altered. :D

they popularised the “Cheiron” sound (along with Britney) which pretty much dominated the pop charts of 99/00.

 

Can't say I'd ever heard of the 'Cheiron' sound before (although obviously I have heard many of its hits)!

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

 

http://www.undergroundnotes.com/Corrs.jpg

 

It took a re-issue but in 1998 The Corrs rode the wave of Irish pop to become, briefly, probably the biggest band in the country with “Talk On Corners” which spent 73 weeks in the top 20 and reinvigorated their debut album “Forgiven Not Forgotten” which also contributed 100,000 sales to the 1.6 million of TOC. To add to that the group scored three top 10 singles all kick started by their cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams”.

 

ALSO BIG IN: 1999,2000

 

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

 

http://musicdl.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Sash_Featuring_La_Trec-Stay_Includes_Armand_Van_Helden_Remix-PROPER-CDM-FLAC-1997-MAHOU.jpg

 

Poor old Sash! five No 2 hits and never a chart topper! It all started in 1997 when his first three tracks all did just that. He’s also famous of course for recording his first three singles in different languages, French, Spanish, English, and Italian to be specific, he wasn’t such a big album seller with those three hits accounting for almost 1.3 million of his 1997 total.

 

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

 

http://i.imgur.com/rQiZE.jpg

 

In the battle of the late 90s boybands and with the demise of both Take That and East 17 it was pretty much a battle between Five and Boyzone for the crown, sadly Five always played second fiddle sales wise. Still the bad boys of teen pop did well producing four top 5 singles in 1998 and steering their debut album to the top. An acrimonious split followed in 2001 after three No 1 singles in total before reforming (kinda) for “The Big Reunion”.

 

The Corrs falling already is the first major shock for me, I'd have guessed them as a potential top 50 finisher at least before this began! :o

 

The Corrs falling already is the first major shock for me, I'd have guessed them as a potential top 50 finisher at least before this began! :o

 

 

Yeah - a bit strange

The Corrs falling already is the first major shock for me, I'd have guessed them as a potential top 50 finisher at least before this began! :o

Their "downfall" came on the singles front, all their singles combined sold just under 600,000 in a very healthy market for singles so their percentage here let them down.

Makes sense now.

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

 

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Music/Pix/pictures/2012/12/19/1355933073315/Olly-Murs-008.jpg

 

2012 might not have been his busiest year but it is certainly his best selling one. He only charted two new singles in the year though one of them was the chart topper “Troublemaker”, but yet he managed to shift a million singles and have two of the top 20 albums of the year, he’s also the Sixth highest placed talent show contestant on the list.

 

ALSO BIG IN: 2011,2013

 

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

 

 

Proving the worth of the adage “Absence makes the heart grows fonder” Eternal announced they were taking a break in late 97 launching a Greatest Hits album which sold over 550,000 copies in the final few months of the year off the back of their first and only no 1 single “I Wanna Be The Only One” which itself sold 600k . The girls promptly fired Kelle Bryan via a fax (nice) and attempted an ill advised move into a more urban sound which failed to impress and the group folded in 2000.

 

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

 

http://www.clashmusic.com/sites/default/files/legacy/files/coldplay%2009-18-05_21.jpg

 

BEST SELLING YEAR: 2005

 

A bit of a surprise to find that Coldplay’s biggest year market wise was in 2011 with the “Mylo Xyloto” period. That album sold almost a million itself and of course gave them a second No 1 single in the form of “Paradise” just as the year ended contributing a mighty 1.1 million singles sold, by far their best year, and whilst their album sales were well down on their usual tallies from the mid decade the collapse in the albums market overall more than made up the lost sales.

 

ALSO BIG IN: 2008, 2012, 2014

 

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

 

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01540/lilly_1540189c.jpg

 

Another “My space” graduate Allen launched her second album “It’s Not Me, It’s You” with the four week chart topper “The Fear” which became her biggest selling single and was followed into the top 5 by “Not Fair”. The album itself became her first No 1 debuting at the top after selling 112k almost double the opening of “Alright Still” evidencing her increased popularity chart wise.