The top selling albums of 2011 so far in the United States

[Maoilbheannacht]

Here are the top 100 selling albums in the United States over the past 6 months of 2011 or first 26 weeks of 2011. Interesting to note that with half of the year having gone by, there are only TWO albums that have sold 1,000,000 or more copies in the United States! Just TWO! Back in 1999 and 2000, the FULL year, 52 weeks, saw over 100 albums sell 1,000,000 copies or more.

Rank - Sales - TITLE - Artist
01 - 2,517,000 - 21 - Adele
02 - 1,540,000 - BORN THIS WAY - Lady GaGa
03 - 982,000 - SIGH NO MORE - Mumford & Sons
04 - 763,000 - MY KINDA PARTY - Jason Aldean
05 - 686,000 - DOO-WOPS & HOOLIGANS - Bruno Mars
06 - 676,000 - NEVER SAY NEVER - THE REMIXES - Justin Bieber
07 - 648,000 - F.A.M.E. - Chris Brown
08 - 637,000 - NOW 37 - Various
09 - 609,000 - PINK FRIDAY - Nicki Minaj
10 - 600,000 - TEENAGE DREAM - Katy Perry
11 - 598,000 - LOUD - Rihanna
12 - 590,000 - FEMME FATALE - Britney Spears
13 - 563,000 - SPEAK NOW - Taylor Swift
14 - 530,000 - GREATEST HITS…SO FAR - Pink
15 - 524,000 - MY WORLD 2.0 - Justin Bieber
16 - 517,000 - RECOVERY - Eminem
17 - 497,000 - WASTING LIGHT - Foo Fighters
18 - 484,000 - ROLLING PAPERS - Wiz Khalifa
19 - 473,000 - NEED YOU NOW - Lady Antebellum
20 - 440,000 - NOW 38 - Various
21 - 431,000 - LASERS - Lupe Fiasco
22 - 430,000 - YOU GET WHAT YOU GIVE - Zac Brown Band
23 - 366,000 - I REMEMBER ME - Jennifer Hudson
24 - 350,000 - NOTHING LIKE THIS - Rascal Flatts
25 - 340,000 - 19 - Adele
26 - 337,000 - SONGS FOR JAPAN - Various
27 - 332,000 - THE BEGINNING - Black Eyed Peas
28 - 329,000 - LATE NIGHTS & EARLY MORNINGS - Marsha Ambrosius
29 - 325,000 - THIS IS COUNTRY MUSIC - Brad Paisley
30 - 314,000 - LUNGS - Florence + The Machine
31 - 311,000 - 4 - Beyonce
32 - 310,000 - KIDZ BOP 19 - Kidz Bop Kids
33 - 308,000 - BORN FREE - Kid Rock
34 - 301,000 - BROTHERS - Black Keys
35 - 301,000 - HELLO FEAR - Kirk Franklin
36 - 299,000 - THE BAND PERRY - Band Perry
37 - 289,000 - LOVE LETTER - R.Kelly
38 - 288,000 - MY BEAUTIFUL DARK TWISTED FANTASY - Kanye West
39 - 282,000 - GLEE: THE MUSIC VOL.5 - Glee Cast
40 - 276,000 - HELL: THE SEQUEL - Bad Meets Evil
41 - 276,000 - DREAM WITH ME - Jackie Evancho
42 - 274,000 - LEMONADE MOUTH - Soundtrack
43 - 272,000 - HOT SAUCE COMMITTEE PART TWO - Beastie Boys
44 - 271,000 - THE FAME - Lady GaGa
45 - 260,000 - COUNTRY STRONG - Soundtrack
46 - 259,000 - THE KING IS DEAD - Decemberists
47 - 251,000 - HEMINGWAY'S WHISKEY - Kenny Chesney
48 - 249,000 - I AM NOT A HUMAN BEING - Lil Wayne
49 - 245,000 - PAPER AIRPLANE - Alison Krauss & Union Station
50 - 240,000 - GOODBYE LULLABY - Avril Lavigne
51 - 237,000 - STRONGER - Sara Evans
52 - 237,000 - THE INCREDIBLE MACHINE - Sugarland
53 - 234,000 - MY WORLDS ACOUSTIC - Justin Bieber
54 - 230,000 - BTR (SOUNDTRACK) - Big Time Rush
55 - 227,000 - THE KING OF LIMBS - Radiohead
56 - 226,000 - SO BEAUTIFUL OR SO WHAT - Paul Simon
57 - 224,000 - THE LADY KILLER - Cee Lo Green
58 - 223,000 - 2011 GRAMMY NOMINEES - Various
59 - 222,000 - REVOLUTION - Miranda Lambert
60 - 216,000 - GREATEST HITS - Bon Jovi
61 - 212,000 - LOADED: THE BEST OF - Blake Shelton
62 - 211,000 - LOVE - Jennifer Lopez
63 - 209,000 - HELPLESSNESS BLUES - Fleet Foxes
64 - 208,000 - GLEE: THE MUSIC VOL.4 - Glee Cast
65 - 205,000 - BEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE - Jamie Foxx
66 - 202,000 - NUMBER ONE HITS - Tim McGraw
67 - 202,000 - PRESENTS THE WARBLERS (EP) - Glee Cast
68 - 200,000 - THE SUBURBS - Arcade Fire
69 - 197,000 - ALL I WANT IS YOU - Miguel
70 - 196,000 - SAVE ME SAN FRANCISCO - Train
71 - 194,000 - TRON: LEGACY (SOUNDTRACK) - Daft Punk
72 - 192,000 - ENDGAME - Rise Against
73 - 192,000 - THOMPSON SQUARE - Thompson Square
74 - 190,000 - THE LIGHT OF THE SUN - Jill Scott
75 - 190,000 - CANNIBAL - Ke$ha
76 - 189,000 - THE FOUNDATION - Zac Brown Band
77 - 189,000 - NO MERCY - T.I.
78 - 180,000 - AMERICAN TRAGEDY - Hollywood Undead
79 - 179,000 - TOWN LINE - Aaron Lewis
80 - 179,000 - BURLESQUE - Soundtrack
81 - 176,000 - CODES AND KEYS - Death Cab For Cutie
82 - 176,000 - ANGLES - Strokes
83 - 174,000 - SCIENCE & FAITH - The Script
84 - 167,000 - THE E.N.D. (THE ENERGY NEVER DIES) - Black Eyed Peas
85 - 166,000 - ILLUMINATIONS - Josh Groban
86 - 165,000 - MY WORLD (EP) - Justin Bieber
87 - 165,000 - PASSION PAIN AND PLEASURE - Trey Songz
88 - 159,000 - A THOUSAND SUNS - Linkin Park
89 - 157,000 - CALLING ALL HEARTS - Keyshia Cole
90 - 156,000 - NO BOYS ALLOWED - Keri Hilson
91 - 152,000 - GREATEST HITS - Journey
92 - 151,000 - GLEE: THE MUSIC VOL.6 - Glee Cast
93 - 151,000 - A YEAR WITHOUT RAIN - Selena Gomez & the Scene
94 - 150,000 - ANIMAL - Ke$ha
95 - 150,000 - THANK YOU HAPPY BIRTHDAY - Cage The Elephant
96 - 148,000 - THANK ME LATER - Drake
97 - 146,000 - NOW 36 - Various
98 - 145,000 - LOW COUNTRY BLUES - Gregg Allman
99 - 143,000 - BON IVER - Bon Iver
100 - 142,000 - HOLDING ON TO STRINGS BETTER LEFT TO FRAY - Seether

 

[BigMacPhisto]

I guess Gold is the new Triple Platinum.

Also, the less albums being sold on the whole, the greater the percentage of indie records moving onto lists like this and topping the Billboard Charts. Partially due to the internet giving that music a wider audience, but helped greatly by the nerdiest of the music world being heavy record buyers. Pretty interesting that Radiohead is being outsold by both The Decemberists and Black Keys.

I think No Line On The Horizon finished #11 in 2009 or something to that effect. U2 has a built in fanbase that would probably guarantee at least 700K for their next effort, regardless of quality. So, the band could regard it as a failure all they want, but only Lady Gaga or Adele would truly be disappointed with numbers like that.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

per forum description:

The business side of U2: All the info you ever wanted to know about the sales and success of U2's albums and tours around the world.

this forum is only for u2. it's fine to compare to other bands of course but this isn't about u2 at all.