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The Top 100 biggest albums of the 2010s has been unveiled by the Official Charts Comapny, with Adele taking the Top 2 spots with 21 and 25.

The Tottenham-born singer’s second album 21 was a global phenomenon when it was released in January 2011, just ahead of that momentous BRITs performance of Someone Like You. In the UK, 21 debuted at Number 1 and logged a total of 23 weeks at the top of the Official Albums Chart. The collection took six weeks to sell one million copies. View Adele's full Official Chart history.

It's far and away the decade’s best seller, with 5.17 million chart sales - 1.6 million ahead of its closest competitor, herself, with follow-up release 25, on 3.58 million chart sales. The collection, which spent 13 weeks at the summit, is the UK’s fastest-selling album of all time, selling 800,307 copies in its first chart week, smashing a record previously held by Oasis’s Be Here Now.

Despite being released in 2008, Adele’s debut album 19 ranks as the UK’s 13th biggest record of the 2010s.



Meanwhile, Ed Sheeran claims spots 3 with x, 4 with Divide and 7 with his debut +. Ed, who has been crowned the UK's Official Number 1 artist of the decade, scored the fastest-selling album by a male soloist of all time with Divide after clearing a staggering 672,000 copies in its opening week. Ed also became the first and only act in chart history to log a whole year in the Top 10 with three different albums.

Canandian crooner Michael Bublé bags a Top 10 entry - 2011's festive-essential Christmas is the fifth biggest album of the decade with 2.95 million chart sales. Bublé’s 2010 album Crazy Love features at Number 12.

The biggest debut albums of the decade

Sam Smith claims the biggest debut album of the decade with 2014's In The Lonely Hour, placing sixth on 2.59m chart sales, followed by Ed's + at 7 and Emeli Sande’s Our Version of Events at 8 on 2.43m.

The biggest band albums

The biggest album of the decade by a group or band is Take That’s 2010 album Progess at Number 9 on 2.39m chart sales, just ahead of recent runaway success The Greatest Showman, which finishes as the decade’s tenth biggest album on 2.13m. The cast record spent a mammoth 28 weeks at the top across 2018-2019.

More band albums that feature further down include Mumford & Sons' Sigh No More at 16, Coldplay's Mylo Xyloto from 2011 at 17, Florence + The Machine's debut record Lungs at 24, and Arctic Monkeys' AM at 27.

Greatest hits

16 greatest hits album feature in the Top 100 of the decade rundown, led by Bon Jovi’s Greatest Hits at Number 33. Released in 2010, the collection debuted at Number 2 and is regular feature in Top 100 Official Albums Chart. Others include Oasis' Time Flies 1994-2009 (37), Pink's Greatest Hits... So Far (38), ABBA's Gold (46) and Bob Marley's Legend (47).

The UK's Official Top 100 biggest albums of the decade

POS TITLE ARTIST PEAK YEAR 1 21 ADELE 1 2011 2 25 ADELE 1 2015 3 X ED SHEERAN 1 2014 4 DIVIDE ED SHEERAN 1 2017 5 CHRISTMAS MICHAEL BUBLE 1 2011 6 IN THE LONELY HOUR SAM SMITH 1 2014 7 + ED SHEERAN 1 2011 8 OUR VERSION OF EVENTS EMELI SANDE 1 2012 9 PROGRESS TAKE THAT 1 2010 10 THE GREATEST SHOWMAN MOTION PICTURE CAST RECORDING 1 2018 11 LOUD RIHANNA 1 2010 12 CRAZY LOVE MICHAEL BUBLE 1 2009 13 19 ADELE 1 2008 14 DOO-WOPS & HOOLIGANS BRUNO MARS 1 2010 15 THE FAME LADY GAGA 1 2009 16 SIGH NO MORE MUMFORD & SONS 2 2009 17 MYLO XYLOTO COLDPLAY 1 2011 18 WANTED ON VOYAGE GEORGE EZRA 1 2014 19 TEENAGE DREAM KATY PERRY 1 2010 20 THE DEFAMATION OF STRICKLAND BANKS PLAN B 1 2010 21 RIGHT PLACE RIGHT TIME OLLY MURS 1 2012 22 WHO YOU ARE JESSIE J 2 2011 23 PURPOSE JUSTIN BIEBER 2 2015 24 LUNGS FLORENCE & THE MACHINE 1 2009 25 1989 TAYLOR SWIFT 1 2014 26 HALCYON ELLIE GOULDING 1 2012 27 AM ARCTIC MONKEYS 1 2013 28 A HEAD FULL OF DREAMS COLDPLAY 1 2015 29 I CRY WHEN I LAUGH JESS GLYNNE 1 2015 30 HUMAN RAG'N'BONE MAN 1 2017 31 IF I CAN DREAM ELVIS PRESLEY 1 2015 32 BABEL MUMFORD & SONS 1 2012 33 GREATEST HITS BON JOVI 2 2010 34 BORN TO DIE LANA DEL REY 1 2012 35 UP ALL NIGHT ONE DIRECTION 2 2011 36 IN CASE YOU DIDN'T KNOW OLLY MURS 1 2011 37 TIME FLIES - 1994-2009 OASIS 1 2010 38 GREATEST HITS - SO FAR PINK 5 2010 39 GLORY DAYS LITTLE MIX 1 2016 40 SUNNY SIDE UP PAOLO NUTINI 1 2009 41 TAKE ME HOME ONE DIRECTION 1 2012 42 TALK THAT TALK RIHANNA 1 2011 43 RECOVERY EMINEM 1 2010 44 UNORTHODOX JUKEBOX BRUNO MARS 1 2012 45 BORN THIS WAY LADY GAGA 1 2011 46 GOLD - GREATEST HITS ABBA 1 1992 47 LEGEND BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS 1 1984 48 18 MONTHS CALVIN HARRIS 1 2012 49 STAYING AT TAMARA'S GEORGE EZRA 1 2018 50 RUMOURS FLEETWOOD MAC 1 1977 51 CURTAIN CALL - THE HITS EMINEM 1 2005 52 THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION WHITNEY HOUSTON 3 2007 53 GREATEST HITS FOO FIGHTERS 4 2009 54 BACK TO BLACK AMY WINEHOUSE 1 2006 55 BAD BLOOD BASTILLE 1 2013 56 MIDNIGHT MEMORIES ONE DIRECTION 1 2013 57 COME AROUND SUNDOWN KINGS OF LEON 1 2010 58 NUMBER ONES MICHAEL JACKSON 1 2003 59 THE TRUTH ABOUT LOVE PINK 2 2012 60 NOTHING BUT THE BEAT DAVID GUETTA 2 2011 61 THE VERY BEST OF FLEETWOOD MAC 6 2002 62 DISC-OVERY TINIE TEMPAH 1 2010 63 THE ELEMENT OF FREEDOM ALICIA KEYS 1 2009 64 LIONESS - HIDDEN TREASURES AMY WINEHOUSE 1 2011 65 NEVER BEEN BETTER OLLY MURS 1 2014 66 ALL OVER THE WORLD - THE VERY BEST OF ELO 1 2005 67 CEREMONIALS FLORENCE & THE MACHINE 1 2011 68 CHAOS AND THE CALM JAMES BAY 1 2015 69 NOEL GALLAGHER'S HIGH FLYING BIRDS NOEL GALLAGHER'S HIGH FLYING 1 2011 70 GET WEIRD LITTLE MIX 2 2015 71 LIGHTS ELLIE GOULDING 1 2010 72 OLLY MURS OLLY MURS 2 2010 73 MY WORLD JUSTIN BIEBER 3 2010 74 TO BE LOVED MICHAEL BUBLE 1 2013 75 SCIENCE & FAITH SCRIPT 1 2010 76 EVERY KINGDOM BEN HOWARD 4 2011 77 JAKE BUGG JAKE BUGG 1 2012 78 A PERFECT CONTRADICTION PALOMA FAITH 2 2014 79 4 BEYONCE 1 2011 80 UNAPOLOGETIC RIHANNA 1 2012 81 THE LADY KILLER CEE LO GREEN 3 2010 82 NO MORE IDOLS CHASE & STATUS 2 2011 83 THE MARSHALL MATHERS LP 2 EMINEM 1 2013 84 ONLY BY THE NIGHT KINGS OF LEON 1 2008 85 SWINGS BOTH WAYS ROBBIE WILLIAMS 1 2013 86 BEST OF - DECADE IN THE SUN STEREOPHONICS 2 2008 87 IN AND OUT OF CONSCIOUSNESS - GREATEST ROBBIE WILLIAMS 1 2010 88 FALL TO GRACE PALOMA FAITH 2 2012 89 GREATEST HITS QUEEN 1 1981 90 CAUSTIC LOVE PAOLO NUTINI 1 2014 91 IF YOU WAIT LONDON GRAMMAR 2 2013 92 SINCE I SAW YOU LAST GARY BARLOW 2 2013 93 THE THRILL OF IT ALL SAM SMITH 1 2017 94 GHOST STORIES COLDPLAY 1 2014 95 GREATEST HITS GUNS N' ROSES 1 2004 96 RED TAYLOR SWIFT 1 2012 97 GREATEST HITS WESTLIFE 4 2011 98 OUTTA THIS WORLD JLS 2 2010 99 DIRECT HITS KILLERS 5 2013 100 FOUR ONE DIRECTION 1 2014

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