Justin Timberlake reigns supreme on the Official Top 25 Biggest First Week-Sales In Music History tally-made up of the highest selling US debut numbers generated since the dawn of chart history.
Of course, while some of these sales came with the aid of discounted prices, they will give many a fan cause to celebrate today…considering the current state of industry sales.
Did your ‘fave’ make the cut?
Find out below…
25. Kanye West, Late Registration: 860,000
24. 50 Cent, Get Rich Or Die Tryin’: 872,000
23. Shania Twain, Up!: 874,000
22. The Beatles, Anthology 1: 885,000
21. Creed, Weathered: 887,000
20. Garth Brooks, Sevens: 897,000
19. Pearl Jam, Vs.: 950,000
18. Kanye West, Graduation: 957,000
17. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter IV: 964,000
16. Justin Timberlake, The 20/20 Experience: 968,000
15. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III: 1,006,000
14. Norah Jones, Feels Like Home: 1,022,000
13. Taylor Swift, Speak Now: 1,047,000
12. Limp Bizkit, Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water: 1,055,000
11. Garth Brooks, Double Live: 1,085,000
10. Usher, Confessions: 1,096,000
09. Lady Gaga, Born This Way: 1,108,000
08. Backstreet Boys, Millennium: 1,134,000
07. 50 Cent, The Massacre: 1,141,000
06. Taylor Swift, Red: 1,208,000
05. Britney Spears, Oops!…I Did It Again: 1,319,000
04. Backstreet Boys, Black & Blue: 1,591,000
03. Eminem, The Marshall Mathers LP: 1,760,000
02. N Sync, Celebrity: 1,880,000
01. N Sync, No Strings Attached: 2,416,000
‘N Sync’s record will never be broken, not in this iTunes and illegal downloading age.
Illegal downloading isn’t anything new. It existed during the Nsync era.
Very little, not everyone had a computer nor an m** to play it. Burning CD’s got popular around 2002 and that was an advanced feature. Back then, the only way to play music was either CD’s or tapes, the iPod had just started, but didn’t really pop off til 05. But I think music sold more back then cause music had a platform, MTV.
Big ups to Usher being the only R&B singer on the list!!
This is something there are many who have done really great in their Quest for Excellence in the Arts.
LMAO!!!! NO BEYONCE OR RIHANNA NOW BOTH STAN BASES CAN STFU BOTH OF THEM H*** ARE AVERAGE ALBUM SELLERS…
Hey why would you think that about rihanna because you and many seem to think that rihanna can not sing in the first place, but it seems you love beyonce and she is so great it is kind of strange not seeing beyonce top this list are at least be doing as good as britney is doing wouldn’t you think.
lol n wheres Destinys Child?????????
lmaaaaoooo
Gaga fans shouldn’t talk and should thank amazon 99 cents cloud storage promotion for her eatery of the list. Don’t forget that Rated R sold more then Fame Monster in the same week of release. Ya know, since y’all want to call that re-release a 2nd album (after it was successful.) Plus DC sold 600K FULL PRICE, so put your paws down and SIT!
Put ur paws down and sit…#EPIC i will b using that hun!
Dead at 50 cent being a better album seller than beyonce
Usher, 50 and others has done ever so well and so has taylor, but after all the talk and all the bragging about others being the better singer , there seem to be something wrong since they are not covering the ground of being big sellers at the moment, are even in the past.
Beyonce has never hid from the fact that her rise to success was gradual. She actually compliments that fact with being WHY she is still in the running, unlike so many of these artists who have fallen to drugs, controversy, both and more.
Ok b**** but where is 50 and Usher now? Not having albums and barely selling gold while Beyonce is selling out tours with NO album out. The fact that you flop closet ass stans keep bringing up Beyonce where she is not mentioned shows that your life is meaningless and pressed and youre secretly obsessed. You remind me of that that crazed psycho fan in The Bodyguard.
I love this list, really shows who the dominant artists in music are and were …
Congrats to the repeat offenders like Kanye, nsync, BSB, Tswift and Weezy!
keyword: were
Britneys the highest female on the list
#Icon
Britney sure is and people say she can’t sing.
I was looking for jayz.
She cant…
GaGa made the list but no fatass Mariah or old ugly h** Madonna Oooop
Fat ass Mariah is the second best selling female artist after old h** Madonna though. Oop. Pay homage boo.
Gaga wouldn’t be on the list if her b******* music didn’t sell for a penny. She will NEVER live that down… just like she won’t live down the fact that BTW is a direct copy off that Madonna song.
DEAD @ the fools that would rather huge first week sales vs. multiple DIAMOND certifications. check the receipts, boo!
THE BEATLES IMPACT ON POP CULTURE WOULD EVEN MAKE MICHEAL JACKSON BLUSH.
That’s why Michael Jackson purchased the rights to all of there music. Yep his estate owns it all.
Yup! LOL
If the Beatles were more popular than Jesus, as John Lennon once claimed, Michael Jackson had the entire Holy Trinity beat.
– Joe Vogel
USHER IS THE ONLY R&B ACT ON THE LIST SMDH
OH GOSH…something ELSE to fight about. Sam you putn allthis other crap up how about promoting Fannys new leaked song she leaked yesterday ‘Supernatural Love’
Well… Who THE F*** cares about first week sales?
Mariah, Whitney, Madonna, Tina, Janis, Celine and Michael and many more etc… have NEVER seen such huge first week sales but they have, individually and collectively speaking, all sold over 200+ Million Records/Albums WW.
As well as countless Rock acts/bands who have sold twice as much records/albums an not to mention the Beatles’ “1 BILLION SALES MARK’.
LONGEVITY OVER QUANTITY.
…yeah, yeah, yeah.
That’s what people whose favorites never had a massive first week say. Clearly none of your favs made this list, which is why you’re dismissing it.
Actually Whitney Houston’s “The Bodyguard” was the FIRST album ever to sell One Million in a week…it wasn’t First Week but it was couple of weeks after it debut…Talk about an Album being HUGE even after the First Week…Most First week Drop after the Debut…She Debut High….but still manage to work up to a Million….The First Artist to ever do so….talk about Impact….Records are Meant to be Broken but it’s Beautiful thing to set the Standard without Internet, Facebook, Youtube,Twitter like she did back in 1992 with the just video premieres, tours , radio and award show performances…Heres to all the Artist who actually WORKED hard for their Success (MJ,Madonna,Prince etc.) ,,,,Yep the Late Great Whitney was the FIRST….
Weird how none of the legends are in here…MJ, Whitney, Madonna, Arerha, Tina Turner, Prince, Mariah…heck even Adele. Oddly enough, a good amount of the people listed are irrelevant now.
that was a long time ago buddy when ppl were interested to go to the music store and buy the physical copy of the album.
LOL@you claiming that this was a long time ago! A number of the albums on this list are no more than 10 years old. Methinks that seeing this list makes Rihanna’s piddly numbers all the more painful for you to cope with.
And why do people keep saying that sales “today” are bad…
The music industry has always been like this.
Sales have always fluctuated…
From the 60s till now.
We’re just in a new era, that’s all…
Sales ARE bad. And they will continue to get worse. The music industry is in a state of emergency because of it…
Um, when what’s considered a “hit album” today struggles to go just platinum, and less than 20 manage to go multi-platinum, that is BAD for “today”. I laugh at today’s generation of artists and fans. Your numbers are a joke. When I was a teenager, hit albums were selling 5 million plus in the US alone. Now 5 million WW is considered a “smash.” What a f*****’ joke!
We all know Gaga made it on this list because she had that Amazon discount. No one is here for that 0.99c album, Monsters.
It do not matter if she sold her music for a quarter she still made it.
I always say it’s not how you start the race, it’s how you finish it, MJ, Whitney, Mariah, Madonna etc. being a prime example. I’d rather have an album sell 500k in it’s 5th week (music box mc) than 1m in it’s 1st.
Yep. Bruno’s debut album sold 55k in the first week, but went on to sell 2 mil. Gaga sold 1.1 mil in the first week, but only sold 2 mil overall. To me, that’s a flop….
Honestly, what was the last CD you guys PURCHASED? For me, it was Bruno Mars back in December, but before that it was “4” back in 2011. Lol. Terrible, right?
I agree, I haven’t bought a hard copy of a cd in 10 years. I bought ONE digital album recently. In the past, I didn’t see the point in “supporting” music artists because I thought they were already filthy rich. I mean, Beyonce and Jay Z just became the first billionaire pop couple. Beyonce alone is expected to make over 100 million from her tour, which is crazy. I always thought entertainers were overpaid and doctors, teachers, etc were underpaid. Of course, my views have changed since I was a teenager and I plan on buying more music this year.
it’s not like any of those outside of the 20/20 Experience are shocking huge artists open huge as Adeles next album probably will when releaesd the two highest sales weeks for Alanis Morrisettes Jagged little Pill were Christmas Week 1995 780,000 the albums 26th week and it’s 34th the week after the grammy awards in 1996 when it sold 600k so anomollies do happen
Sales =/= quality.
No Madonna, No Mariah, No Janet, No Whitney, No Beyoncé, No Rihanna I could go on…. This list is not important.
nowadays albums sell quite high first week because music has become more disposable than it was 20 years ago.
People buy the album 1st week, listen to it for a month or 2 then dump it.
Before people were still buying albums years later, Adele is an exception.
And the reason why ‘Michael, Celine, Tina, Aretha, Prince, Whitney’ etc…
arent on the list is because they have never had HIGH first week sales.
Whitney: 305, 000 – I Look To You (2009)
Tina: 299, 000 – Private Dancer (1984)
Princ: 512, 000 – Purple Rain (1984)
Aretha: 196, 000 – Who’s Zooming Who (1985) – THIS IS HER HIGHEST.
Mariah: 400, 000+ – E=MC* (2008)
Michael: 420, 000 – BAD – (1987)
Celine: 535, 000 – All the way… A decade of song – (1999)
Etc…
FIRST WEEK SALES ARENT S***!!!
You see, these legends have had poor first week sales but still sold millions regardless.
I know! I think Celine did over 600,000 first week in 2002 with “A new day has Come” though.
First week sales mean nothing.
They are just an indication of how much hype the artist has.
hype =/= talent.
LOLAT TAYLOR SNATCHIN ALL YOUR FAVES WEAVES/WIGS/BALDCAPS/LACEFRONTS
YA’LL MAD
WILL ALL WEAVEONCE STANS GO TO THE LEFT
First week Sales = Hype.
The Keyword was 1st week sales we all know that most of these albums had a great 1st week and maybe an ok 2nd week but the albums didn’t have longevity
MJ “Thriller” is not on the list but it is the best selling album of all time.
Sold 20,000 in it’s first week. Then it went on to sell 1 mill a week for a couple of months straight.
It’s funny how everyone looks for Beyonce’s name to be on every list… but, hello it’s missing a few stars that you’d expect to see on it as well.
Michael Jackson
Whitney Houston
Mariah Carey
Janet Jackson
Madonna
Prince
Enough said…
It’s a great accomplishment to pull in huge numbers in your first week, but it’s not the only one that matters.
Btw, I’m sure Bey would make the top 40…
B’Day – 541K
DC3 Survivor – 663K
So this post really doesn’t even have to be about Beyonce!
Please!..don’t put Beyonce with those greatest names you mentioned.
If you young punks would sit down and do your homework you’d see that 98% of those albums came out between 2000-2010. Record labels didn’t really start pushing for those sales goals within one week until the very late 90’s. Ya’ll just love microwave everything, microwave artists, microwave sales, microwave relationships. F*** out of here with that.
Yaaaaaaasss LOL
First week sales really dont mean s*** tbh it matters how much that album goes on to sell in the future…
OMG I thought Beyonce was the supposed King, where is she on this list lmao. I can see Gaga, Britney, Usher but no Bey, and these are apparently lessors according to The hive.
So Beyonce hyped up king status is just a facade of just how basic she really is. She even released a song about “can’t nobody take me off” lmao, she’s just as delusional ad her fans.
Whers Rihanna, shes supposed to be the biggest star in the world
Where’s Rihanna’s big ass c** drenched forehead on this list? I thought that h** was supposed to be having some sort of “reign” that won’t let up…her first week numbers would be an embarrassment to everyone mentioned on this list.
Gaga>>>>>>> Rih n bey
Not even the biggest legends are there idiot, why should Beyoncé be? You are so obsessed with her its worrying.
Congrats to them but most of them are not even relevant today
And couldn’t continue that success. Poor that.
Just about everyone on that list is still “relevant” today.
50 cent, Norah Jones, Limp Bizkit? Uhh not really. Lil Wayne has been declining. The BSB and Nysnc, well they arn’t here anymore so I rest my case. No real legends on there except the Beatles.
U.S first week sales are really good I’m proud of everyone, if you were counting worldwide 1st week sales as well I know for a fact Utada Hikaru would be in that list her album distance sold 3 million copies the first week! that is amazing, wish she had that much success in the U.S market
The Eminem Show 1,322,000 copies first copies
05. The Eminem Show 1,322,000
BORN THIS WAY B******!!!!!! YAAAAS!!!!!!!!!
Born this way slayed!!!!!!
The dollar bins.
this is kind of irrelevant, this list does not equal who was/is the “biggest” star with the most impact &continued success:
MJ, Madonna, Mariah, Withney, Prince are not on the list….
prince who,??? Queen GaGa is there tho yaaas
MJ, Madonna, Mariah, W-h-i-t-n-e-y (learn to spell, idiot), Prince all have RIAA-DIAMOND certified albums. Does Rihgonorrhea? Nope. So don’t even try that.
yessss at the mm lp being 3rd . its now diamond.
WHERE’S MADONNA BEYONCE RIHANNA & JANET JACKSON ??? F****** FLOPS HAHAHA
#BORNTHISWAY B******!!
Where’s Gaga’s RIAA DIAMOND certified album? Madonna’s got a few of ’em…
First week sales don’t really reflect anything much other than hyoe
hype
B**** stfu… dont be mad ur fav didn’t make the list kiiiiii
Mad? No boo MJ is not there so how is this a reflection of success again?
Lol oh & no xtina lol shows that Britney has always slayed xtina
Beyonce claims shes king bey yet has never sold over 600k first week lmao. ……
Born this way >>>>>>>>>>>>> Any Madonna record
Born this way >>>>>>>>>>>>>Any Beyonce record
Born this way >>>>>>>>>>>>>Any Rihanna Record
Born this way >>>>>>>>>>>>>Any Michael record besides thriller
Born this way >>>>>>>>>>>>>Any Mariah record
Born this way >>>>>>>>>>>>>Any Christina Record
What Rihanna reign? Lmao
And just think, Nsync would’ve sold twice as much is they had enough in stores, I think they sold more then that the 2nd week of release. (I forgot which album tho.) Big ups to Usher for being the only R&B artist on there and Backstreet, T Swift and Lil Wayne for being on there twice. AND Nsync for having not one, but one and two spot.
And congratulate Queen Gaga
lmfao! at this Lady Gaga fan.
gurl you need more people.
Born this way=Legendary Album
I just have to laugh at the Gaga troll.
Lady Gaga is the only one on that list whose album sold a “million” via a 99¢ discount…she’s also the only one who suffered an 85% drop the second week…and she’s the only one whose album fizzled out at only 2x platinum.
Gaga’s entry on this list is totally bogus. Born This Way is the b****** child on here. The rest of those albums were blockbusters; they debuted large and went on to sell through the roof. Hers, when put into perspective, was a flop.
I don’t see FRAUDyonce on this list. The H** must be devastated.
#PawDut
Gaga wouldn’t even be on that list if she wouldn’t of discounted her album for 99cent lol… She’s pathetic
People are so silly. It says biggest first week sales. Not biggest selling ever. This is a great list but if you are looking for over all sales, this list changes. I ask would you want great opening or great running. There is a difference
I think Sam was just trying to start a stan war by putting Gaga on the list.
Born This Way will be forever tainted by that 99 cent Amazon deal. I wish she’d never done that. I think she was focused more on the short term–selling 1 million in a week–than on the LONG TERM sales. The whole era just seemed poorly executed and not well thought out. And, of course, there was Adele. *sighs*
But, given her tour did pretty well IMO considering that the album wasn’t that well-received is a feat in itself. I mean, how many acts would’ve just outright cancelled their tour from the beginning, or grossed a lot less than 160 million with a COMPLETED tour?
Gaga doesn’t deserve to be on that list
And I think some of y’all supposed Gaga fans are trying to get people to shade Gaga with your comments. *SMH*
When people come here and use artists names to be obnoxious, I think they are actually haters of said artist. They knew what the reaction is gonna be. These alleged Gaga stans probably despise her and just decided to bait people into attacking her by acting out under name.
Bingo 🙂
The H** is up in here talking about 99c, WHERE IS YOUR FAVE ON THE LIST? Nowhere!!!!!!!!
99c or not, Gaga is there and FRAUDyonce isn’t. YOU WILL DEAL!!!!!!!!!!
Gaga came and did what the other lessors haven’t been able to do in their whole career. When will FRAUDyonce & Rihanna go platinum in one week? Even JT couldn’t go platinum in one week..
Who’s bowing down now? How does it feel on ya knees?
#QueenGaGa
I love Gaga but she shouldn’t be on the list. Most her albums first week was from the amazon deal
Most??? 700,000 is more than 400,000 hun. Just saying 🙂
YES GAGA! Boss Lady. And I love Bey too, Im not gonna shade her, at least her first week sales are better than Rihannas. And Rihanna HAD discounts and still couldn’t touch either.
Grats to them.
Those of you complaining about your fave not being on the list I just want to let you know this list is compiled of ALBUMS with the highest FIRST WEEK SALES in history. These are not opinions these are facts so it doesn’t make since to say you don’t agree with the list. It makes you sound ignorant. Secondly, like I said this list is compiled of first week album sales nothing more it doesn’t take anything away from artist not on the list. Remember some of the biggest selling albums of all time(Michael Jackson Thriller etc) are not on the list this is just first week sales!!!
lol gaga/btw is the biggest :::..FLOP..::: on that list.
All of those other albums dwarfed hers.
Taylor swift has 2 albums in the top 15.
#teamtaylor
The t*** phenomenom hun. Just like NSync, BackStreet and Britney. Nobody takes those 4 names seriously 🙂
Coming from someone who bigs up bruno mars, when his music is cheesy as hell…
At least you got something right Taylor swift is a phenomenom
Wheres is beyonce ??? Puhahahahaha I thought she was big there puhahaha
Gaga shouldn’t be there, just saying….Backstreet Boys, N Sync, Britney Spears and Eminem were the masters at this….Yes!….EMINEM.
yes girl!
These are amazing achievements. But obviously the huge thing is the amount of copies an album sells at the end of its commercial journey.
If I remember correctly “The Bodyguard” was the first album in history to sell over a million copies in a week. It was like a month or two after its release. That´s f****** SLAYING and having staying power, not a success based on histerical hype. Ask Adele how she feels about not being on this list but still having sold more than any other of the recent releases in this list
Where’s Mariah carey??
Britney yas I remember the year she got those first week sales and the album didn’t just stale away it sold a sh*tload. Congrats to everyone on the list.
Wow Lil’ Wayne, Kanye West and 50 Cent did that for Hip Hop! Much love to Usher too!
I love seeing Britney up there, people underestimate her a lot..
dead at Gaga fans making excuses for her $1 flop lmaooo