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 sales.

In 2004, a total of 29 albums reached the #1 spot on the Billboard 200. R&B singer Usher's Confessions is the best-selling album of 2004, accumulating under eight million copies by the end of the year. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with sales of 1.096 million copies in the United States, breaking the record for the best opening sales week by an R&B act. Confessions gave Usher his first chart topper since he began releasing albums in the 1990s. Singer Norah Jones' Feels Like Home sold 3.8 million units, ranking as the second best-selling album of 2004. Feels Like Home is noted for its debut sales figure of 1.02 million, the second highest in a week by a female artist, behind singer Britney Spears' Oops!... I Did It Again which debuted with 1.32 million in 2000.

Chart history

+KeyIndicates best performing album of 2004

Issue date Album Artist(s) Sales The Diary of Alicia Keys 370,000 Speakerboxxx/The Love BelowOutKast 374,000 86,000 Closer 100,000 Speakerboxxx/The Love BelowOutKast 97,000 86,000 KamikazeTwista 312,000 When the Sun Goes Down 550,000 Feels Like Home 1,020,000 395,000 280,000 204,000 183,000 147,000 Confessions Usher 1,096,000 486,000 463,000 302,000 253,000 D12 WorldD12 545,000 Confessions Usher 267,000 227,000 214,000 Under My Skin 381,000 Confessions Usher 194,000 ContrabandVelvet Revolver 256,000 To the 5 BoroughsBeastie Boys 360,000 Kiss of DeathJadakiss 246,000 The Hunger For More 434,000 164,000 License to Chill 239,000 Autobiography 398,000 Now 16Various Artists 504,000 AutobiographyAshlee Simpson 286,000 263,000 Now 16Various Artists 207,000 Live Like You Were Dying 766,000 227,000 What I Do 178,000 SuitNelly 396,000 American IdiotGreen Day 267,000 Feels Like TodayRascal Flatts 201,000 50 Number Ones 343,000 190,000 Stardust: The Great American Songbook, Volume III 240,000 Unfinished Business & Jay-Z 215,000 Now 17Various Artists 407,000 EncoreEminem 711,000 871,000 How to Dismantle an Atomic BombU2 840,000 Collision CourseJay-Z / Linkin Park 368,000 The Red Light DistrictLudacris 322,000

See also 2004 in music List of number-one albums (United States)

References