The highest-selling albums and EPs in the United States are ranked in the Billboard 200, published by Billboard magazine. The data are compiled by Nielsen Soundscan based on each album's weekly physical and digital sales.

25 acts achieved number one albums during this year with artist such as Nelly and Shania Twain who had their albums debut at number one on the chart. Rapper Eminem's The Eminem Show is the best selling album of 2002 selling over approximately 7.6 million copies by the end of the year. It is also the longest running album of 2002 spending six non-consecutive weeks the chart and was known for its first full week of sales debut of 1,321,799 copies which Nielsen SoundScan scanned as the then sixth largest sales of all time in its first full week.

The band Creed continued its eight week long run on the chart but is credited as the longest running album for 2001. Jennifer Lopez earned her second number one album on the charts with J to tha L-O!: The Remixes, which became the highest first week sales of a remix album at the time. R&B artist Ashanti earned her first number one album with her self-titled debut album Ashanti, which opened up with first week sales of about 503,000 copies in its first week alone. Puff Daddy earned his first number one album since No Way Out back in 1997. Rapper Jay-Z earned his fifth chart topper with The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse, which opened up with first week sales of about 545,000 copies alone. Heavy metal band Disturbed earned its first number one album on the chart with Believe, which opened up with first week sales of about 284,000 copies alone.

Country music singer Shania Twain's album Up! opened up with a huge first week sales of about 857,000 copies in its first week alone, giving her the recognition of the highest first week sales of her career and the second highest sales week of the year, only behind Eminem's The Eminem Show and at the time the fastest selling solo female album ever. Nelly's album Nellyville opened up with his highest first week sales of his career which logged on with huge sales of about 714,000 copies in its first week alone, which beat his sales of his debut album Country Grammar, which opened up with first week sales of about 235,000 copies. Country singer Alan Jackson album Drive gave him his first number one album on the chart and opened up with first week sales of about 211,000 copies.

Chart history

+KeyIndicates best performing album of 2002

Issue date Album Artist(s) Sales WeatheredCreed 860,000 398,000 166,000 138,000 Drive423,000 230,000 189,000 J to tha L-O!: The Remixes156,049 DriveAlan Jackson184,000 J to tha L-O!: The RemixesJennifer Lopez102,000 Under Rug Swept215,000 O Brother, Where Art Thou?Soundtrack159,000 149,000 Now 9Various Artists420,000 A New Day Has Come558,000 AshantiAshanti503,000 246,000 190,000 No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems235,000 Hood RichBig Tymers160,000 JuslisenMusiq Soulchild260,000 We Invented the RemixP. Diddy and The Bad Boy Family256,000 The Eminem Show Eminem284,000 1,322,000 809,000 529,562 381,000 NellyvilleNelly715,000 450,000 340,000 Busted Stuff622,000 Unleashed338,000 The Rising525,000 239,000 NellyvilleNelly183,000 The Eminem Show Eminem170,000 HomeDixie Chicks780,000 367,000 214,000 BelieveDisturbed284,000 ELV1S: 30#1 Hits500,000 337,000 205,000 Cry472,000 ShamanSantana299,000 8 MileSoundtrack702,000 508,000 The Blueprint²: The Gift & the CurseJay-Z545,000 Up!874,000 623,000 317,000 373,000

See also 2002 in music

References