Nielsen Music has officially announced the best-selling albums and singles of 2015, and a clear leader exists in both categories.
With pure US sales of 7.441 million in the December 29, 2014 – December 31, 2015 tracking period, Adele’s “25” ranks as 2015’s #1 album. A pure US sales total of 5.529 million earns Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk (featuring Bruno Mars)” the top spot on the single sales chart.
Adele’s album holds a particularly clear advantage. Its nearest competition comes from Taylor Swift’s “1989,” which sold 1.993 million US copies inside of 2015.
The year’s other top albums are as follows: Justin Bieber’s “Purpose” (#3, 1.269 million), Ed Sheeran’s “x” (#4, 1.162 million), Drake’s “If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late” (#5, 1.142 million), Sam Smith’s “In The Lonely Hour” (#6, 1.018 million), Meghan Trainor’s “Title” (#7, 1.007 million), The Weeknd’s “Beauty Behind The Madness” (#8, 0.862 million), the “50 Shades of Grey” soundtrack (#9, 0.861 million), and Luke Bryan’s “Kill The Lights” (#10, 0.851 million).
Positioned after “Uptown Funk” on the singles chart are the following albums: Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” (#2, 3.976 million), Wiz Khalifa’s “See You Again (featuring Charlie Puth)” (#3, 3.801 million), Adele’s “Hello” (#4, 3.712 million), Maroon 5’s “Sugar’ (#5, 3.343 million), Walk The Moon’s “Shut Up And Dance” (#6, 2.986 million), Fetty Wap’s “Trap Queen” (#7, 2.730 million), OMI’s “Cheerleader” (#8, 2.698 million), The Weeknd’s “The Hills” (#9, 2.586 million), Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood (featuring Kendrick Lamar)” (#10, 2.580 million).
