List of best-selling albums in the United Kingdom

The best-selling album in the United Kingdom is Greatest Hits, a compilation album by the British rock band Queen that was first released in 1981. , Greatest Hits has sold more than 7.8 million copies in the UK. Of the UK's 70 best-selling albums, more than half are by British artists, with the remaining albums being by artists from the United States, Canada, Sweden, Jamaica and Ireland. Fifteen acts feature on the chart with more than one album, with five featuring three times. The most-represented record label is Epic Records with six entries, while the decade that appears the most is the 2000s, with 24 of the entries having been released during that period, despite its "general background of declining sales and internet piracy".

According to the Official Charts Company (OCC), which collects album sales data in the UK, an album is defined as being a type of music release that features more than four tracks or is longer than 25 minutes in duration. Sales of albums in the UK were first published by the music magazine Record Mirror, who compiled a weekly chart of the country's five biggest-selling records for the week of 22 July 1956. Record Mirror first number one was Songs for Swingin' Lovers! by Frank Sinatra. Since then, seven albums have gone on to sell more than five million copies each. Album sales have been monitored by the OCC since 1994, when they took over compiling the weekly UK Albums Chart.

Sales certifications for albums are awarded by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for shipments, physical sales and downloads of albums, and, , streaming of album tracks. The BPI began awarding certifications soon after it was founded in April 1973. Initially, certifications were based on the revenue received by the album manufacturers – records that generated revenue of were awarded silver certification, £150,000 represented gold and £1 million was platinum. Over the following six years, the thresholds for silver and gold certifications both grew twice – the threshold for platinum certification remained at £1 million. In January 1979, this method of certifying sales was abolished, and certifications were instead based on unit sales to retail outlets: sales of 60,000 were awarded silver, gold for 100,000 and platinum for 300,000. Multi-platinum awards were introduced in February 1987;As an example, a 2× Platinum certification would reflect 2 × 300,000 = 600,000 sales. digital downloads have been counted towards unit sales since 2004. Certifications for albums released before April 1973 were retroactively awarded in August 2013 for sales from 1994 onwards, and then again in February 2016 for all previous sales. The highest-certified album is Greatest Hits, which has been awarded platinum certification 25 times, representing 7,500,000 units.

Best-selling albums Positions are as of July 2026; sales, where shown, are from the reference given, which may be at a different date, and cannot be used to infer changes in position.

+Best-selling albums in the UKAlbumArtistRecord labelReleasedChartpeakSalesNo. of timesPlatinum1Greatest HitsQueenEMI17.8 million25×2Gold: Greatest HitsABBAPolydor17.1 million22×3OasisCreation16.2 million19×421AdeleXL15.7 million19×5Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandApple15.6 million18×6RumoursFleetwood MacWarner Bros.15.1 million+17×7Pink FloydHarvest25.0 million16×8ThrillerEpic14.6 million+15×9LegendIsland/Tuff Gong14.6 million+15×10Brothers in ArmsDire StraitsVertigo14.6 million15×11Back to BlackIsland14.6 million15×12BadEpic14.5 million+14×13÷Asylum14.5 million15×14Greatest Hits IIQueenEMI/Parlophone13.9 million+13×1525AdeleXL13.9 million+13×16xAsylum13.9 million+13×171Apple13.9 million+13×18MadonnaSire13.9 million+13×19Bat Out of HellMeat LoafEpic33.6 million+12×20Lady GagaInterscope13.6 million+12×21Come On OverMercury13.6 million+12×22Curtain Call: The HitsEminemInterscope13.6 million+12×23StarsSimply RedEast West13.6 million+12×24Urban HymnsHut13.3 million+11×25ChristmasReprise13.3 million+11×26Back to BedlamAtlantic13.3 million+11×27Bridge over Troubled WaterSimon & GarfunkelCBS13.3 million+11×28SpiritSyco13.0 million+10×29Dirty DancingOriginal soundtrackRCA43.0 million+10×30Only by the NightKings of LeonHand Me Down13.0 million+10×31Crazy LoveReprise13.0 million+10×32In the Lonely HourCapitol13.0 million+10×33White LadderIHT/East West13.0 million+10×34Number OnesEpic13.0 million+10×35No AngelDidoArista13.0 million+10×36ColdplayParlophone13.0 million+10×37U2Island13.0 million+10×38SpiceSpice GirlsVirgin13.0 million+10×39Definitely MaybeOasisCreation13.0 million+10×40Motion picture cast recordingAtlantic13.0 million+10×41NevermindNirvanaDGC52.7 million+9×42Hopes and FearsKeaneIsland13.0 million+10×43Jagged Little PillMaverick13.0 million+10×44Talk on CornersAtlantic12.7 million+9×45Beautiful WorldTake ThatPolydor12.7 million+9×46Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the WorldsCBS52.7 million+9×47Life for RentDidoArista12.7 million+9×48ParachutesColdplayParlophone12.7 million+9×49X&YColdplayParlophone12.7 million+9×50EminemAftermath12.7 million+9×51Tracy ChapmanElektra12.7 million+9×52GreaseOriginal soundtrackPolydor12.7 million+9×53+Asylum12.7 million+9×54Virgin12.7 million+9×55Scissor SistersScissor SistersPolydor12.7 million+9×56Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George MichaelEpic12.7 million+9×57Tubular BellsVirgin12.7 million+9×58TravisIndependiente12.7 million+9×59Tango in the NightFleetwood MacWarner12.7 million+9×60Appetite for DestructionGuns N' RosesPolydor/UMR52.7 million+9×61GracelandWarner12.7 million+9×62Come Away with MeBlue Note12.7 million+9×6319AdeleXL12.7 million+9×64Greatest HitsChrysalis12.4 million+8×65American IdiotGreen DayReprise12.4 million+8×66Abbey RoadApple12.4 million+8×67Greatest HitsGuns N' RosesGeffen12.4 million+8×68I've Been Expecting YouChrysalis13.0 million+10×69Greatest HitsABBAEpic12.4 million+8×70Hot FussVertigo12.4 million+8×

List of best-selling albums in the United Kingdom

Bron en licentie