List of fastest-selling albums


This is a list of the fastest-selling albums in global recorded music. To appear on the list, the figure must have been published by a reliable source and all sales must have occurred in the first week of release. This list may include any type of album, including studio albums, extended plays, greatest hits, compilations, soundtracks and remixes. Market order within the article is ranked alphabetically. Albums within each table are listed in order of the number of copies sold and thereafter by the artist's first name.

Canada

Denmark

Ireland

Netherlands

United Kingdom

NotesBe Here Now by Oasis debuted at number one based on three-day sales of 696,000 copies, while its first full week actually totaled 813,000 copies.25 by Adele sold 439,000 copies in its second week of availability, followed by 450,000 in its fifth.

United States

Since 1991

YearAlbumArtistSales
2025
201525Adele
2000No Strings AttachedNSYNC
2024
2001CelebrityNSYNC
2000Eminem
2000Black & BlueBackstreet Boys
20231989 (Taylor's Version)
2002Eminem
2000Oops!... I Did It Again
20141989
2017Reputation
2012Red
200550 Cent
2022Midnights
1999MillenniumBackstreet Boys
2011Born This Way
2004ConfessionsUsher
1998Double Live
2000Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored WaterLimp Bizkit
2010Speak Now
2004Feels Like Home
2008Lil Wayne

Notes
  • The Bodyguard by Whitney Houston sold 1.06 million copies in its Christmas week.
  • 1 by the Beatles sold 1.25 million copies in its Christmas week.Encore by Eminem sold 1.58 million copies in its first ten days of availability, after an abbreviated three-day first week.25 by Adele sold 1.11 million copies in its second week of availability, followed by 1.16 million in its fifth.

Worldwide

YearAlbumArtistSales/Shipments
1991Dangerous
1987Bad
201525Adele
2025The Life Of A ShowgirlTaylor Swift5,500,000]
1995HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I
2023Seventeenth Heaven Seventeen
2022Greatest Works of Art
2005X&YColdplay
2000Black & BlueBackstreet Boys
2002Elvis: 30 #1 Hits
20235-Star Stray Kids
2023FML Seventeen
1963John Fitzgerald Kennedy – A Memorial Album
2020Map of the Soul: 7BTS
20001
2023ISTJ NCT Dream
2005Confessions on a Dance FloorMadonna
1968
2010Michael
2008Viva la Vida or Death and All His FriendsColdplay
2001Invincible
2001Distance
2000MusicMadonna
1998Ray of LightMadonna
2001
2022Proof BTS
1998B'z The Best "Pleasure" B'z
2000Oops!... I Did It Again
1998B'z The Best "Treasure" B'z
2023Golden Jungkook
2000No Strings Attached NSYNC
2024
2023 TXT
2020Be BTS
1998Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie
2022 TXT
2002Coldplay