Top Albums of 2010

Nielsen SoundScan has been tracking top album sales since 1991 and released their 2010 list of top selling albums in the United States on January 6, 2011. The list is an interesting one crossing several music genres including rap, country and pop.

The list features old and new artists both in terms of years in the industry and years in age. Justin Bieber is the youngest artist on the list. While Susan Boyle is the oldest on the list, she is a relative newcomer to the music industry. Sade is the veteran of the industry and it is great to see her back.

All of the albums on the list were released in 2010 with the exception of Lady Gaga's "The Fame" which was originally released in 2008.

Genre: Rap

The Eminem "Recovery" album topped the bestseller list. This was the second time in the last decade that the artist achieved this honor. In 2002, his album “The Eminem Show” sold 7.6 million copies. “Recovery” sold 3.42 million copies. In addition to physical copies, Eminem also topped the digital downloads chart in 2010, selling 15.5 million tracks. There were 852,000 digital downloads of the album. “Recovery” is the seventh Eminem album. It was released on June 18, 2010 by Shady Records and Aftermath Entertainment. It debuted at the number one spot on the Billboard 200 with 741,000 copies sold in its first week. The album produced three hit singles – “No Love”, “Not Afraid,” and “Love the Way You Lie.” “Recovery is also the 2^nd best-selling album worldwide with 2010 global sales of 5.7 million.

Genre: Country

Lady Antebellum, the country music group hailing from Nashville, Tennessee came in second for 2010 with sales of their album “Need You Now.” The album sold more than 3.08 million copies. The single “Need You Now” the title track of this album won the Country Music Association’s single of the year award. “Need You Now” was released in January 2010 and is Lady Antebellum’s second album. The trio forming the group—Charles Kelley, Dave Haywood and Hillary Scott—have been together since 2006. The group came up with the name Antebellum when they were photographing "antebellum" or ‘pre-war’ homes. Antebellum is an architectural style that describes the large plantation homes of the American South.

Genre: Country

Released November 13, 2010, Taylor Swift’s album “Speak Now” comes in at number 3. Emimem was toppled off the charts when Taylor’s album exploded onto the scene selling 1.05 million copies in its first week. A total of 2.06 million copies of the album were sold in the last 10 weeks of 2010. Taylor Swift had the top-selling album of 2009—“Fearless”—which sold 3.22 million copies that year. As of the end of 2010, the 21-year had sold over 16 million albums globally.

Genre: Pop

The Canadian YouTube sensation, Justin Bieber, continued to rake in the cash with sales of his first full studio release album “My World 2.0” coming in at number 4 on the best sellers list. Released March 23, 2010, the album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. “Baby” is the lead single off this album and features rapper, Ludacris. More than 2.31 million copies of “My World 2.0” were sold in the U.S. in 2010.

5.
Susan Boyle
"The Gift"
1.85 million copies sold

6.
Lady Gaga
"The Fame"
1.59 million copies sold

7.
Sade
"Soldier of Love"
1.3 million copies sold

8.
Drake
"Thank Me Later"
1.26 million copies sold

9.
Usher
"Raymond v. Raymond"
1.18 million copies sold

10.
Ke$ha
"Animal"
1.14 million copies sold