Album chart - top 50

1 AS I AM ALICIA KEYS 3,628,381
2 NOEL JOSH GROBAN 3,333,285
3 THA CARTER III LIL' WAYNE 2,671,291
4 Long Road Out Of Eden EAGLES 2,051,352
5 TAYLOR SWIFT TAYLOR SWIFT 2,042,003
6 ROCK N ROLL JESUS KID ROCK 1,978,083
7 VIVA LA VIDA OR DEATH AND ALL HIS FRIENDS COLDPLAY 1,905,661
8 NOW 26 VARIOUS ARTISTS 1,677,932
9 THE ULTIMATE HITS GARTH BROOKS 1,614,214
10 CARNIVAL RIDE CARRIE UNDERWOOD 1,613,962
11 Hannah Montana 2 (Soundtrack)/Meet Miley Cyrus MILEY CYRUS 1,554,904
12 Growing Pains Mary J. Blige 1,548,496
13 EXCLUSIVE CHRIS BROWN 1,541,046
14 Sleep Through The Static Jack Johnson 1,437,645
15 BLACK ICE AC/DC 1,319,914
16 DEATH MAGNETIC METALLICA 1,315,129
17 JONAS BROTHERS JONAS BROTHERS 1,286,142
18 COCO COLBIE CAILLAT 1,257,318
19 SPIRIT LEONA LEWIS 1,249,522
20 HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2 SOUNDTRACK 1,226,254
21 GOOD GIRL GONE BAD RIHANNA 1,197,910
22 E=MC2 MARIAH CAREY 1,178,770
23 PAPER TRAIL T.I. 1,178,455
24 MAMMA MIA! SOUNDTRACK 1,127,367
25 A LITTLE BIT LONGER JONAS BROTHERS 1,097,354
26 CAMP ROCK SOUNDTRACK 1,083,351
27 HERE I STAND USHER 1,070,769
28 STILL FEELS GOOD RASCAL FLATTS 1,064,839
29 ENJOY THE RIDE SUGARLAND 1,057,826
30 LOVE ON THE INSIDE SUGARLAND 1,031,717
31 MOTHERSHIP LED ZEPPELIN 1,018,375
32 BREAKOUT MILEY CYRUS 1,015,477
33 DAUGHTRY DAUGHTRY 1,013,979
34 TAKING CHANCES CELINE DION 982,684
35 JUST LIKE YOU KEYSHIA COLE 958,760
36 JORDIN SPARKS JORDIN SPARKS 956,098
37 NOW 28 VARIOUS ARTISTS 926,966
38 Alvin And The Chipmunks SOUNDTRACK 894,030
39 JUNO SOUNDTRACK 892,494
40 RAISING SAND ROBERT PLANT/ALISON KRAUSS 868,985
41 NOW 27 VARIOUS ARTISTS 833,510
42 INDESTRUCTIBLE DISTURBED 796,215
43 BACK TO BLACK AMY WINEHOUSE 794,369
44 DREAMING OUT LOUD ONEREPUBLIC 794,294
45 LITTLE VOICE SARA BAREILLES 772,652
46 THE DUTCHESS FERGIE 760,478
47 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT LINKIN PARK 755,690
48 ALL THE RIGHT REASONS NICKELBACK 733,123
49 JUST WHO I AM: POETS & PIRATES KENNY CHESNEY 717,323
50 TRILLA RICK ROSS 684,609

Digital singles

1 LOW FLO RIDA FEATURING T-PAIN 4,149,031
2 BLEEDING LOVE LEONA LEWIS 3,210,763
3 LOLLIPOP LIL WAYNE 2,947,438
4 I KISSED A GIRL KATY PERRY 2,739,565
5 VIVA LA VIDA COLDPLAY 2,635,767
6 NO AIR JORDIN SPARKS 2,482,425
7 APOLOGIZE TIMBALAND 2,411,532
8 DISTURBIA RIHANNA 2,377,588
9 LOVE SONG SARA BAREILLES 2,361,468
10 4 MINUTES MADONNA 2,152,245
11 DON'T STOP THE MUSIC RIHANNA 2,107,424
12 WHATEVER YOU LIKE T.I. 2,089,731
13 I'M YOURS JASON MRAZ 2,077,510
14 POCKETFUL OF SUNSHINE NATASHA BEDINGFIELD 2,062,609
15 SO WHAT PINK 2,062,332
16 PAPER PLANES M.I.A. 2,051,393
17 NO ONE ALICIA KEYS 2,016,476

Looks like Alicia Keys had a good year.

the funny thing is that if you take High School Music, the Eagles,Alicia keys and josh groban away, the industry would be asking for a "bail out" right now. Again i would still take Rihanna's numbers and re-work them, since the album was put out twice, the same should be done with all re-issues. Funny thing is that many of the top sellers were released last year and their strong sales were from early this year, showing how far down sales have gone, 68% in 3 years.

Wow...both Madonna and Janet's albums sold so poorly that they didn't make the Top 50 for the year....in a terrible year for sales. Although Madonna can crow about having the 10th biggest song of the year when single sales are doing well...double edged sword.

what is the time period for these numbers? Is it 11/07-10/08?

Justaphase said:

Looks like. I never understand Billboard's deal with releasing these figures so early....Why not just wait until Christmas week, when they now business is slow and all the dust from the fourth quarter is settled. Are they doing this to get interest in their magazine at the time? It's very misleading to call these year end numbers....makes it look like people bought 3 million copies of that Josh Groban CD AFTER Christmas (although it's possible it sold some copies after Xmas...I guess).

Justaphase said:

Billboard considers the thanksgiving week to be a new yr for their charts.
This yr the total weeks consisted of 53weeks usually its 52 weeks but it depends on what days their charts r released

You "conveniently" forgot to mention that Michael Jackson had THREE entries on the Billboard Year End Pop Catalog chart with Thriller and Number Ones *both* landing inside the Top 10 @ #1 and #8 respectively and The Essential @ 48.

Combined, all three albums sold approximately 1.1 million copies in the USA in 2008. In separate news, Off The Wall sold 35,000+, Bad sold 10,235+, and Dangerous sold 14,120+. No figure available yet for the DVD's but I'm sure they also fared well (especially the Number Ones DVD which has been chart consistently all year.)

On a side note, Prince has 0 albums charting on the Year End Pop Catalog chart. Not too surprising since sales of The Very Best Of Prince and Purple Rain have dropped dramatically.

Michael Jackson - Thriller : 694k
Various - I Can Only Imagine : 570k
Journey - Greatest Hits : 426k
Bob Marley - Legend : 418k
Guns N Roses - Greatest Hits : 388k
Michael Buble - It's Time : 301k
AC/DC - Back In Black : 285k
Michael Jackson - Number Ones : 283k
Jersey Boys - Soundtrack : 245k
**Creedance Clearwater Revival - Chronicle, 20 Greatest Hits : 239k
Wicked - Original Cast Recording : 233k
Queen - Greatest Hits : 229k
Bob Seger - Greatest Hits : 221k
Beatles - One : 211k
Bon Jovi - Crossroad : 209k
Jimi Hendrix - Best Of : 208k
Metallica - Metallica : 208k
Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon : 205k
Elvis Presley - 30 #1 Hits : 204k
Creed - Greatest Hits : 189k
Celine Dion - All The Way : 188k
Michael Buble - Michael Buble : 183k
Def Leppard - Vault, Greatest Hits : 181k
Lil Wayne - Tha Carter II : 176k
Evanescence - Fallen : 174k
Josh Groban - Closer : 169k
Linkin Park - Hybryd Theory : 164k
Boston - Greatest Hits : 157k
Tim McGraw - Greatest Hits Vol 2 : 154k
Tim McGraw - Greatest Hits : 151k
Poison - Best Of Poison : 148k
Norah Jones - Come Away With Me : 137k
Bruce Springsteen - Greatest Hits : 136k
Beach Boys - Sounds Of Summer : 135k
Eric Clapton - Cream Of : 133k
Sublime - Sublime : 131k
Metallica - And Justice For All : 130k
Johnny Cash - 16 Biggest Hits : 128k
AC/DC - Highway To Hell : 123k
George Strait - 50 Number Ones : 120k
Nirvana - Nirvana : 119k
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Best Of : 114k
Stevie Wonder - Definitive Collection : 109k
Madonna - The Immaculate Collection : 109k
Metallica - Master Of Puppets : 108k
Beatles - Abbey Road : 107k
Linkin Park - Meteora : 105k
Michael Jackson - The Essential : 103k
James Taylor - Greatest Hits : 100k
Kid Rock - Devil Without A Cause : 99k
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Greatest Hits : 97k
The Eagles - Greatest Hits 71-75 : 96k
Frank Sinatra - Classic Sinatra : 93k
Josh Groban - Josh Groban : 93k
Eric Clapton - Best Of : 89k
Kid Rock - Cocky : 88k
Grease - Soundtrack : 88k
Neil Young - Greatest Hit : 86k
Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison : 81k
Queen - Greatest Hits We Will Rock You : 78k
AC/DC - Live (2cd) : 76k
John Lennon - Lennon Legend : 74k
Johnny Cash - The Essential : 67k

*Nickelback - All The Right Reasons : 466k
*Carrie Underwood - Some Hearts : 391k
*Rascal Flatts - Me And My Gang : 206k

*Those albums are very 'young' catalog albums
**This album also sold 50-100k from another issue.
[Edited 11/22/08 18:39pm]

amit1234 said:

this is "music : non prince"

AC/DC - Back In Black it sell so much every year!

You know an artist is still at the top of his game when his back catalogue can sell a million a year.

Go Michael

Its never to late to discover the magic of Thriller and 694000 people agree

VinnyM27 said:

why is madonna's album not considered a flop?

with all those singles rhianna has had from this album shouldnt she be multi-platinum by now?

amit1234 said:

Nobody cares!

I wonder how many copies of Kalimba Da Luna by Boney M featuring Reggie Tsiboe sold.

From the looks of this chart, it's been a piss-poor year for music. Too bad none of my faves made it.

So sad.

Mary J Blige came in at #12. She sold more than Rihanna, Chris Brown, Usher, Jordan Sparks and Keyshia Cole.

You go MJB!