The best-selling album is Thriller, the sixth studio album by American singer and dancer Michael Jackson that was first released in 1982. Its 35-week tenure atop the Albums Chart is the longest in music history. Jackson's seventh studio album and follow-up, Bad (1987), is the third biggest-selling album.
English hard rock band Led Zeppelin's untitled fourth studio album, commonly known as Led Zeppelin IV (1971), is the second best-selling album and the best-selling album released by a group. Greatest Hits, by the British rock band Queen, that was first released in 1981 is the fourth and best-selling compilation album. American singer Madonna's The Immaculate Collection (1990) is the best-selling album released by a female artist. Titanic: Music from the Motion Picture (1997), the soundtrack of the movie Titanic, by American composer James Horner is the best-selling soundtrack album in music history.
Of the top 30 best-selling albums, twelve are by British artists and twelve are by American artists, with the rest being from Canada, Sweden and Jamaica. Seven acts feature on the chart with more than one album: ABBA, Cher, Led Zeppelin, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Queen and The Beatles, with Zeppelin featuring twice and Jackson featuring three times within the top ten. The only acts to feature more than twice are Jackson, Madonna and Zeppelin; Jackson features on the chart five times, more than any other artist. The most-represented record label is Epic with five entries, while the decade that appears the most is the 1990s, with 11 entries. Since 1963, three albums spent at least 30 weeks at number one each: Thriller, Led Zeppelin IV and Rumours by Fleetwood Mac.
Best-selling albums
edit| Studio album | |
| Compilation album | |
| Soundtrack album |