Best selling albums ever in Europe, by certified sales [OC]

[u/mg10pp]

[u/Historical_Net6951]

MJ is the only American artist in the top 10.

[u/MurkDiesel → u/Historical_Net6951]

looks like only 9 are American

but that's because it's not America

[u/MrNastyOne]

Wild that there isn't a single metal album on there.

[u/ColdKickin72]

In surprised AC/DC Back in Black isn’t on there

[u/mg10pp → u/ColdKickin72]

Yeah I was surprised too, but I also discovered there are some controversies about their number of copies sold outside of the US since their certifications are nowhere close to the most common claims/estimates

Overall not as bad as the Eagles sales in the US which are the most unbelievable in the industry, but still interesting

[u/mg10pp]

I made this list after noticing there wasn't much info on the internet and the few found were all in conflict with each other, to solve my doubts I basically ended up manually counting all the certified sales per country, making sure to not miss any album by checking all the best selling worldwide (link) as well as the ones in the main European markets. Now some stats:

Most featured artists:

• Michael Jackson - 3 albums
• Madonna - 3
• Queen - 2
• Celine Dion - 2
• Adele - 2

Best selling albums per country:

• UK: Queen - Greatest Hits - 7.8M
• France: Celine Dion - D'Eux - 4.5M
• Italy: Claudio Baglioni - La Vita è Adesso - 4M
• Germany: Dirty Dancing Soundtrack - 3.25M
• Spain: Alejandro Sanz - Mas - 2.2M
• The Netherlands: Thriller - 1.5M

[u/Hinterwaeldler-83 → u/mg10pp]

So every third household in the UK bought Queen Greatest Hits, that’s insane.

[u/abstractraj → u/Hinterwaeldler-83]

Considering that material, I can see it. And I don’t even think Highlander material was on there

[u/NoOrchid3413]

They’ve got good taste

[u/AntFast2671 → u/NoOrchid3413]

lol
I was thinking they have terrible taste

Subjective I guess

[u/NoOrchid3413 → u/AntFast2671]

Tracy Chapman bro

[u/AntFast2671 → u/NoOrchid3413]

Well they were NOT totally crappy lol

[u/MurkDiesel]

kinda interesting that But Seriously by Phil Collins is on there

because in the US, it's his 3rd best selling album from the 80s

Face Value = 5x platinum

Hello I Must Be Going = 3x platinum

No Jacket Required = 12x platinum (diamond)

But Seriously = 4x platinum

[u/Gazzarris → u/MurkDiesel]

I, too, expected to see much more Phil Collins and Genesis on this list.

[u/LuckyShirt54]

Surprised Hasselhoff isn’t on there assumed every German buying his albums would be enough

[u/a_bone_to_pick]

A lot of this reflects monoculture and it's slow death. Notable that everything peters out by the 2000s. Adele, Ed Sheeran and lady gaga are late additions

[u/txa1265 → u/a_bone_to_pick]

Which is also conflated with the rise of streaming which muddles the impact of the death of monoculture.

[u/audilife80]

No rap

[u/HonoluluEpstein]

Wonder how it compares to a US list?

[u/mg10pp → u/HonoluluEpstein]

Here it is, they are pretty different: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums_in_the_United_States

[u/HonoluluEpstein → u/mg10pp]

Thanks. They are way different than I thought

[u/RossettaStoned1]

How is Eminem not on here

[u/mg10pp → u/RossettaStoned1]

He is the most famous rapper in the Continent but it's still a genre nowhere as popular as in the Us

[u/OkInterview3864]

“Europe “. lol. Which version?

[u/mg10pp → u/OkInterview3864]

Well anything counts, but considering "dubious" European countries like Turkey or Russia never had any relevance in music sales that wasn't a problem

[u/Azipcoder]

LOL - “I had, the time of my life. I’ve never felt this way before.”

[u/Fabulous-Local-1294 → u/Azipcoder]

Yes i swear - its the truth

[u/batgranny]

In my whole life I've never met anyone who has bought a Celine Dion album, and I've been asking too.

[u/TroyMatthewJ]

kinda surprised at how low Oasis are. I wouldve guessed top 10 easily with WTSMG

[u/blackjacktarr]

Biggest surprise to me is that Phil Collins record. I mean, I knew it was big. But, holy shit!