# 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. As of July 2022, it has sold more than seven million copies, of which approximately 124,000 have been from downloads. Queen's second greatest hits album, Greatest Hits II, has sold more than 3.9 million copies since being released in 1991, which includes 50% of sales of box sets containing both albums and 33% of sales of box sets of Queen's three Greatest Hits albums.
Of the UK's 40 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. Six acts feature on the chart with more than one album, with Michael Jackson being the only artist to feature three times. The most-represented record label is Epic Records with four entries, while the decade that appears the most is the 2000s, with 12 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's first number one was Songs for Swingin' Lovers! by Frank Sinatra. Since then, five albums have gone on to sell more than five million copies each: Greatest Hits by Queen, Gold: Greatest Hits by ABBA, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles, 21 by Adele, and (What's the Story) Morning Glory? by Oasis. Since 1994, sales of albums have been monitored by the OCC, who 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, as of June 2015, 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 £75,000 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; 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 23 times, representing 6,900,000 units.

## Best-selling albums

Best-selling albums in the UK :
| No. | Album | Artist | Record label | Released | Chart peak | Sales | No. of times Platinum |
| 1 | Greatest Hits | Queen | EMI | October 1981 | 1 | 7.0 million+ | 23× |
| 2 | Gold: Greatest Hits | ABBA | Polydor | September 1992 | 1 | 6.6 million+ | 22× |
| =3 | Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band | The Beatles | Parlophone | June 1967 | 1 | 5.4 million+ | 18× |
| =3 | 21 | Adele | XL | January 2011 | 1 | 5.4 million+ | 18× |
| =5 | Rumours | Fleetwood Mac | Warner Bros. | February 1977 | 1 | 5.1 million+ | 17× |
| =5 | (What's the Story) Morning Glory? | Oasis | Creation | October 1995 | 1 | 5.1 million+ | 17× |
| 7 | The Dark Side of the Moon | Pink Floyd | Harvest | March 1973 | 2 | 4.8 million+ | 16× |
| =8 | Thriller | Michael Jackson | Epic | November 1982 | 1 | 4.5 million+ | 15× |
| =8 | Legend | Bob Marley and the Wailers | Island/Tuff Gong | May 1984 | 1 | 4.5 million+ | 15× |
| =8 | Brothers in Arms | Dire Straits | Vertigo | May 1985 | 1 | 4.5 million+ | 15× |
| =11 | Bad | Michael Jackson | Epic | August 1987 | 1 | 4.2 million+ | 14× |
| =11 | Back to Black | Amy Winehouse | Island | October 2006 | 1 | 4.2 million+ | 14× |
| =11 | ÷ | Ed Sheeran | Asylum | March 2017 | 1 | 4.2 million+ | 14× |
| =14 | The Immaculate Collection | Madonna | Sire | November 1990 | 1 | 3.9 million+ | 13× |
| =14 | Greatest Hits II | Queen | EMI/Parlophone | October 1991 | 1 | 3.9 million+ | 13× |
| =14 | 1 | The Beatles | Apple | November 2000 | 1 | 3.9 million+ | 13× |
| =14 | x | Ed Sheeran | Asylum | June 2014 | 1 | 3.9 million+ | 13× |
| =14 | 25 | Adele | XL | November 2015 | 1 | 3.9 million+ | 13× |
| 19 | Stars | Simply Red | East West | September 1991 | 1 | 3.6 million+ | 12× |
| =20 | Bridge over Troubled Water | Simon & Garfunkel | CBS | January 1970 | 1 | 3.3 million+ | 11× |
| =20 | Bat Out of Hell | Meat Loaf | Epic | October 1977 | 3 | 3.3 million+ | 11× |
| =20 | Urban Hymns | The Verve | Hut | September 1997 | 1 | 3.3 million+ | 11× |
| =20 | Come On Over | Shania Twain | Mercury | November 1997 | 1 | 3.3 million+ | 11× |
| =20 | Back to Bedlam | James Blunt | Atlantic | November 2004 | 1 | 3.3 million+ | 11× |
| =20 | Curtain Call: The Hits | Eminem | Interscope | December 2005 | 1 | 3.3 million+ | 11× |
| =20 | The Fame | Lady Gaga | Interscope | January 2009 | 1 | 3.3 million+ | 11× |
| =20 | Christmas | Michael Bublé | Reprise | November 2011 | 1 | 3.3 million+ | 11× |
| =28 | The Joshua Tree | U2 | Island | March 1987 | 1 | 3.0 million+ | 10× |
| =28 | Dirty Dancing | Original soundtrack | RCA | August 1987 | 4 | 3.0 million+ | 10× |
| =28 | Jagged Little Pill | Alanis Morissette | Maverick | June 1995 | 1 | 3.0 million+ | 10× |
| =28 | Spice | Spice Girls | Virgin | November 1996 | 1 | 3.0 million+ | 10× |
| =28 | White Ladder | David Gray | IHT/East West | November 1997 | 1 | 3.0 million+ | 10× |
| =28 | I've Been Expecting You | Robbie Williams | Chrysalis | October 1998 | 1 | 3.0 million+ | 10× |
| =28 | No Angel | Dido | Arista | October 2000 | 1 | 3.0 million+ | 10× |
| =28 | A Rush of Blood to the Head | Coldplay | Parlophone | August 2002 | 1 | 3.0 million+ | 10× |
| =28 | Number Ones | Michael Jackson | Epic | November 2003 | 1 | 3.0 million+ | 10× |
| =28 | Spirit | Leona Lewis | Syco | November 2007 | 1 | 3.0 million+ | 10× |
| =28 | Only by the Night | Kings of Leon | Hand Me Down | September 2008 | 1 | 3.0 million+ | 10× |
| =28 | Crazy Love | Michael Bublé | Reprise | October 2009 | 1 | 3.0 million+ | 10× |
| =28 | In the Lonely Hour | Sam Smith | Capitol | June 2014 | 1 | 3.0 million+ | 10× |