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The Top 40 biggest songs and albums of the decade by female artists

08 March 2019 | By Justin Myers

 

We count down the biggest hits by women in the 2010s in the UK.

 

Friday March 8 is International Women's Day, and to mark the occasion we look at the highest achieving female artists in the UK chart this decade.

 

Since 2010, the Top 100 singles led by female artists have notched up over 125 million combined sales – which includes physical, downloads sales and streams – and the Top 100 female artist albums account for 65.5 million combined sales.

 

But who's sold the most?

 

It should come as no surprise – unless you've not been near a radio or TV in the last decade or so – that Adele tops both our Top 40 rundowns. The London-born singer had had a hugely successful decade all over the world, and on home turf, she has a tally of 10.5 million, with her second album 21 accounting for 5.13 million of that grand total, to be the biggest album by a female artist not only this decade, but of all time. Her third album 25 is in second place, while her debut 19, from 2008, has still managed to shift 1.8 million since 2010.

 

On the singles' Top 40, Adele reigns supreme with ballad Someone Like You thanks to 1.6 million downloads and 69.3 million streams. Three more Adele tunes make the Top 40: Hello (3), Rolling in the Deep (13), and Make You Feel My Love (30).

 

Emeli Sande's debut Our Version of Events is third biggest album, with combined sales of 2.4 million, and the highest of four Rihanna albums in the Top 40 of the decade is in fourth place – it's Loud, with just over two million. There are four Rihanna-led songs in the singles' Top 40 too, with 2011's We Found Love the highest, on 1.42m downloads and 49.7m streams.

 

Sia does pretty well in the singles' Top 10, with Cheap Thrills, second overall, notching up 162 million streams and 536,000 downloads, and Chandelier in sixth.

 

Dua Lipa's 2017 Number 1 New Rules is the most streamed song of the decade by a female artist, with 169.9 million plays in the UK, and is the fourth biggest song overall, including its 245,000 downloads. Dua also appears again at 12 with her 2018 Number 1 One Kiss.

 

Dua Lipa with her Official Number 1 Award for New Rules

 

Jess Glynne has had seven Number 1s this decade, as both lead and featured artist, but her biggest song is These Days with Rudimental and Macklemore in 19th, while Ariana's biggest song of the decade is One Last Time in 22nd place.

 

The oldest song to make the singles' Top 40 is Mariah Carey's million-selling festive fave All I Want for Christmas is You, in 16th place, while Little Mix score three entries on this rundown, with Black Magic the highest.

 

The Official Top 40 biggest songs by female artists this decade:

 

TITLE ARTIST PEAK YEAR

1 SOMEONE LIKE YOU ADELE 1 2011

2 CHEAP THRILLS SIA 2 2015

3 HELLO ADELE 1 2015

4 NEW RULES DUA LIPA 1 2017

5 WE FOUND LOVE RIHANNA FT CALVIN HARRIS 1 2011

6 CHANDELIER SIA 6 2014

7 HAVANA CAMILA CABELLO FT YOUNG THUG 1 2017

8 CALL ME MAYBE CARLY RAE JEPSEN 1 2012

9 LOVE ME LIKE YOU DO ELLIE GOULDING 1 2015

10 LUSH LIFE ZARA LARSSON 3 2015

11 ROAR KATY PERRY 1 2013

12 ONE KISS CALVIN HARRIS & DUA LIPA 1 2018

13 ROLLING IN THE DEEP ADELE 2 2011

14 THIS IS ME SETTLE/GREATEST SHOWMAN ENS 3 2017

15 GHOST ELLA HENDERSON 1 2014

16 ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU MARIAH CAREY 2 1994

17 WORK RIHANNA FT DRAKE 2 2016

18 SHAKE IT OFF TAYLOR SWIFT 2 2014

19 THESE DAYS RUDIMENTAL/GLYNNE/MACKLEMORE 1 2018

20 DIAMONDS RIHANNA 1 2012

21 HOLD MY HAND JESS GLYNNE 1 2015

22 ONE LAST TIME ARIANA GRANDE 2 2014

23 ALL ABOUT THAT BASS MEGHAN TRAINOR 1 2014

24 SHOUT OUT TO MY EX LITTLE MIX 1 2016

25 LET IT GO IDINA MENZEL 11 2013

26 A THOUSAND YEARS CHRISTINA PERRI 11 2011

27 FIREWORK KATY PERRY 3 2010

28 WORK FROM HOME FIFTH HARMONY FT TY DOLLA SIGN 2 2016

29 PRICE TAG JESSIE J FT BOB 1 2010

30 MAKE YOU FEEL MY LOVE ADELE 4 2012

31 BLACK MAGIC LITTLE MIX 1 2008

32 ONLY GIRL (IN THE WORLD) RIHANNA 1 2010

33 STARSHIPS NICKI MINAJ 2 2012

34 BANG BANG JESSIE J/GRANDE/MINAJ 1 2014

35 TOUCH LITTLE MIX 4 2016

36 JAR OF HEARTS CHRISTINA PERRI 4 2010

37 JUST GIVE ME A REASON PINK FT NATE RUESS 2 2012

38 NEVER FORGET YOU MNEK & ZARA LARSSON 5 2015

39 SUMMERTIME SADNESS LANA DEL REY VS CEDRIC GERVAIS 4 2013

40 BURN ELLIE GOULDING 1 2013

 

©2019 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.

 

And here are the biggest albums by female artists this decade:

 

TITLE ARTIST PEAK YEAR

1 21 ADELE 1 2011

2 25 ADELE 1 2015

3 OUR VERSION OF EVENTS EMELI SANDE 1 2016

4 LOUD RIHANNA 1 2011

5 19 ADELE 1 2008

6 THE FAME LADY GAGA 1 2009

7 TEENAGE DREAM KATY PERRY 1 2010

8 WHO YOU ARE JESSIE J 2 2011

9 LUNGS FLORENCE & THE MACHINE 1 2009

10 1989 TAYLOR SWIFT 1 2014

11 HALCYON ELLIE GOULDING 1 2013

12 I CRY WHEN I LAUGH JESS GLYNNE 1 2015

13 BORN TO DIE LANA DEL REY 1 2012

14 TALK THAT TALK RIHANNA 1 2011

15 GREATEST HITS - SO FAR PINK 5 2010

16 GLORY DAYS LITTLE MIX 1 2017

17 BORN THIS WAY LADY GAGA 1 2011

18 THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION WHITNEY HOUSTON 3 2007

19 BACK TO BLACK AMY WINEHOUSE 1 2006

20 THE TRUTH ABOUT LOVE PINK 2 2012

21 THE ELEMENT OF FREEDOM ALICIA KEYS 1 2009

22 LIONESS - HIDDEN TREASURES AMY WINEHOUSE 1 2011

23 CEREMONIALS FLORENCE & THE MACHINE 1 2011

24 LIGHTS ELLIE GOULDING 1 2010

25 GET WEIRD LITTLE MIX 2 2015

26 A PERFECT CONTRADICTION PALOMA FAITH 2 2014

27 UNAPOLOGETIC RIHANNA 1 2012

28 4 BEYONCE 1 2011

29 FALL TO GRACE PALOMA FAITH 2 2012

30 RED TAYLOR SWIFT 1 2012

31 HEAVEN REBECCA FERGUSON 3 2011

32 TURN IT UP PIXIE LOTT 6 2009

33 DO YOU WANT THE TRUTH OR SOMETHING PALOMA FAITH 9 2009

34 BEYONCE BEYONCE 2 2013

35 THE GIFT SUSAN BOYLE 1 2010

36 MY LOVE - THE ESSENTIAL COLLECTION CELINE DION 5 2008

37 I AM SASHA FIERCE BEYONCE 2 2009

38 RATED R RIHANNA 9 2009

39 DELETED SCENES FROM THE CUTTING ROOM CARO EMERALD 4 2010

40 MESSY LITTLE RAINDROPS CHERYL COLE 1 2010

 

©2019 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.

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Top Posters In This Topic

Cheryl Cole MESSY LITTLE RAINDROPS outsold her '3 words' album? wtf.
It's of this decade, not of the millennium. I think '3 Words' has more total sales but a lot of those were in 2009.

I always forget how big Jessie’s debut was whenever I see best of lists.

 

Queen Adele ruling singles and albums :wub:

 

Sia having two of the top ten as well is impressive.

Suprised Touch has outsold SOTME but it closing in on black magic fantastic for little mix

 

Edit my mistake the article says black magic is their highest but SOTME is higher than black magic on the list also black magic wasnt released in 2008

Edited by 777666jason

Suprised Touch has outsold SOTME but it closing in on black magic fantastic for little mix

 

Edit my mistake the article says black magic is their highest but SOTME is higher than black magic on the list also black magic wasnt released in 2008

 

Yup, SOTMX is closing in on 1.5 million sales! :yahoo: :lol:

It's a shame they didn't tell us the sales breakdown for "Hello". I assume it's getting close to 1 million downloads? Or has it already passed the mark?
Whitney Houston has an album in the top 20 but nothing at all from Kylie, Madonna or Mariah Carey!
You've got to remember, album wise Madonna and Mariah havent had any massive sellers since the last decade! MDNA and Rebel Heart barely scraped 100k each!
You also have to remember that Whitney unfortunately passed away which gave a boost to her album. Since her death the album has appeared in the Y/E top 100 on multiple ocassions.
Whitney Houston has an album in the top 20 but nothing at all from Kylie, Madonna or Mariah Carey!

 

Mariahs quite underrated UK wise aside from All I Want For Christmas Is You.

 

Whitney and Amy both being on this despite passing away. I wonder had they still been alive if their albums would’ve still been selling the way they do. Back to Black and The Ultimate Collection are both nearly always in the top 100.

Edited by Jordan Lee

Cheryl Cole MESSY LITTLE RAINDROPS outsold her '3 words' album? wtf.

It's of this decade, not of the millennium. I think '3 Words' has more total sales but a lot of those were in 2009.

01/11/2009 - #01 - 125,271

08/11/2009 - #01 - 75,399

15/11/2009 - #07 - 49,210

22/11/2009 - #12 - 40,711

29/11/2009 - #12 - 43,163

06/12/2009 - #14 - 49,186

13/12/2009 - #15 - 55,362

20/12/2009 - #14 - 85,059

27/12/2009 - #10 - 84,754

 

= 608,115 sold in 2009!

 

It had sold 1 million copies by June 2013. I don't think we've had a sales update since then, but I think we can safely assume it's sold 400,000+ in the 2010s.

 

Gezza had Messy Little Raindrops on 508,900 sales by the end of 2014!

Here's a few sales for albums. The sales are from 8th March unless otherwise stated:

 

1. 5,127,613 - 21 ADELE 1 2011

2. 3,529,416 - 25 ADELE 1 2015

6. 1,681,587 - THE FAME LADY GAGA 1 2009 [3,014,323 overall]

7. 1,383,559 - TEENAGE DREAM KATY PERRY 1 2010 (1st March 2019)

10. 1,231,790 - 1989 TAYLOR SWIFT 1 2014

12. 1,168,026 - I CRY WHEN I LAUGH JESS GLYNNE 1 2015

15. 1,059,003 - GREATEST HITS - SO FAR PINK 5 2010

16. 1,043,505 - GLORY DAYS LITTLE MIX 1 2017

25. 817,009 - GET WEIRD LITTLE MIX 2 2015 (1st March 2019)

I can’t believe that Cheryl album sold that much !!
I can’t believe that Cheryl album sold that much !!

 

It’s kind of hard to imagine now - what a huge star she was in 09/10. Good times!

It's a pity that Sia sells so well on singles but that doesn't translate in huge album sales

and her albums are really good

does anyone have the latest figures on the last 2 Sia albums (1000 forms of fear and This is acting)?

Edited by Bjork

Pixie Lott outselling Beyonce with an album from 2009
Adele's 19 is like the black sheep here.

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