List of fastest-selling albums by country

A fast-selling album is defined as one with high sales in its first chart week following release.^[1][2] The highest sales achieved in any country in an album's debut week are 3.38 million for 25 by Adele in the US in the week ending 26 November 2015.^[3] This passed the previous record of 3.00 million set by the album Distance by Hikaru Utada in Japan in 2001.^[4]

Canada

This is a list of the fastest-selling albums in Canada since Nielsen SoundScan tracking began in 1995.

Rank	Year	Title	Artist	Sales	Reference
1	2015	25	Adele	305,928	[5]
2	1997	Let's Talk About Love	Céline Dion	230,212	[6][7]
3	1999	Millennium	Backstreet Boys	191,791	[8][9]
4	2003	Star Académie	Star Académie	173,000	[10]
5	2000	Black & Blue	Backstreet Boys	156,307	[8]
6	2002	A New Day Has Come	Céline Dion	151,600	[11]
7	2002	Up!	Shania Twain	150,000	[12]
8	2008	Black Ice	AC/DC	119,000	[13]
9	2006	I Think of You	Gregory Charles	109,000	[14]
10	2014	1989	Taylor Swift	107,000	[15]

Ireland

The fastest-selling album is The Best of 1980–1990 by U2 in November 1998.^[16]

Japan

This is a list of the fastest-selling albums in Japan since Oricon was founded in November 1967. The top two sales records were achieved in the same week, on 28 March 2001, as both albums were promoted as a direct competition between J-pop singers Hikaru Utada and Ayumi Hamasaki.^[17]

Rank	Year	Title	Artist	Sales	Reference
1	2001	Distance	Hikaru Utada	3,002,720	[18][19]
2	2001	A Best	Ayumi Hamasaki	2,874,870	[18][19]
3	1998	The Best "Pleasure"	B'z	2,709,530	[19][20]
4	1998	The Best "Treasure"	B'z	2,500,120	[19][21]
5	2002	Deep River	Hikaru Utada	2,350,170	[19][22]
6	2000	Delicious Way	Mai Kuraki	2,218,640	[19][23]
7	1999	First Love	Hikaru Utada	2,026,870	[19][24]
8	1997	Review	Glay	2,003,150	[19][25]
9	1996	Sweet 19 Blues	Namie Amuro	1,921,850	[19][26]
10	2002	I Am...	Ayumi Hamasaki	1,751,360	[19][27]

New Zealand

This is a list of the fastest-selling albums in New Zealand since the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand, later renamed as Recorded Music NZ, was founded in 1972.

Rank	Year	Title	Artist	Sales	Reference
1	2015	25	Adele	18,766	[28]
2	2009	I Dreamed a Dream	Susan Boyle	17,435	[28]

United Kingdom

This is a list of the fastest-selling albums in the United Kingdom as of November 2015 based on sales in their first chart week. The album 25 by Adele sold one million copies in a record ten days, breaking the previous record of 17 days by Be Here Now.^[29]

Rank	Year	Title	Artist	Sales	Reference
1	2015	25	Adele	800,307	[30]
2	1997	Be Here Now^[I]	Oasis	695,761	[31]
3	2010	Progress	Take That	518,601	[32]
4	2005	X&Y	Coldplay	464,471	[33]
5	2008	The Circus	Take That	432,490	[34]
6	2009	I Dreamed a Dream	Susan Boyle	411,820	[35]
7	2003	Life for Rent	Dido	400,351	[36]
8	2007	Spirit	Leona Lewis	375,872	[37]
9	2005	Intensive Care	Robbie Williams	373,832	[38]
10	2006	Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not	Arctic Monkeys	363,735	[39]

Notes:
^ I Be Here Now was unconventionally released on a Thursday and debuted at number one based on three-day sales of 695,761. Sales from its first full week of availability, which went from Thursday to Wednesday were 813,000.^[40]

• The second week's sales for 25 were 439,000.^[41]
• The fifth week's sales for 25 were 450,000.^[42]

United States

This is a list of the fastest-selling albums in the United States since Nielsen SoundScan tracking began on March 1, 1991.

Rank	Year	Title	Artist	Sales	Reference
1	2015	25	Adele	3,378,000	[43]
2	2000	No Strings Attached	*NSYNC	2,416,000	[43]
3	2001	Celebrity	*NSYNC	1,880,000	[43]
4	2000	The Marshall Mathers LP	Eminem	1,760,000	[43]
5	2000	Black & Blue	Backstreet Boys	1,591,000	[43]
6	2000	Oops!... I Did It Again	Britney Spears	1,319,000	[43]
7	2014	1989	Taylor Swift	1,287,000	[43]
8	2012	Red	Taylor Swift	1,208,000	[43]
9	2005	The Massacre^[I]	50 Cent	1,141,000	[43]
10	1999	Millennium	Backstreet Boys	1,134,000	[43]

Notes:

• John Fitzgerald Kennedy—A Memorial Album, recorded on the day of John F. Kennedy's assassination, sold 4 million copies at 99 cents each within six days of its release.^[44]
• A Hard Day's Night, the soundtrack album to The Beatles' eponymous film, sold 1,000,000 copies within four days of its release.^[45]
• Although not in its opening week, The Beatles' eleventh studio album, Abbey Road, is claimed to have sold "over 3.3 million copies in the U.S. in a little over a week".^[46]
• Although not in its opening week, either, The Beatles' compilation 1 moved 1,258,667 units in its sixth week of availability.^[47]

^ I The opening number denotes sales from the first four days of availability as The Massacre was unconventionally released in the middle of the week.

• 25 by Adele sold 1.11 million and 1.16 million copies in its second and fifth week of availability, respectively.

See also

• List of best-selling albums
• List of best-selling albums in Canada
• List of best-selling albums in Japan
• List of best-selling albums in the United Kingdom
• List of best-selling albums in the United States
• Lists of albums

References

1. "Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way' headed toward 1 million-plus first week sales, Billboard says", LA Times, May 30, 2011
2. "50 fastest selling albums ever", NME, Apr 27, 2011
3. Caulfield, Keith (28 November 2015). "Adele's '25' Official First Week U.S. Sales: 3.38 Million". Billboard. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
4. "ADELE SHATTERS WORLD RECORDS SET BY UTADA HIKARU & AYUMI HAMASAKI". Arama Japan. 27 November 2015.
5. Chart News (25 November 2015). "Adele's 25 Sells 260,000 in 5 Days in Canada". Chart News. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
6. Toronto Star (23 November 1997). "Dion's latest CD shatters sales records". Retrieved 25 October 2012.
7. Williams, John (28 November 2007). "Celine is queen of Cdn. charts". Canoe Jam!. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
8. Cantin, Paul (29 November 2000). "Backstreet falls short of record". Canoe Jam!. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
9. All Pop (29 March 2000). "*Nsync album smashes sales record". Canoe Jam!. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
10. Williams, John (9 April 2003). "Celine ousted from top of charts". Canoe Jam!. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
11. Williams, John (2 April 2003). "Celine's 'One Heart' debuts at No. 1". Canoe Jam!. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
12. Williams, John (27 November 2002). "Shania debuts at No. 1". Canoe Jam!. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
13. Williams, John (29 October 2008). "AC/DC's 'Ice' has rock solid debut". Canoe Jam!. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
14. Williams, John (25 October 2006). "Charles beats The Hip, Sarah to No. 1". Canoe Jam!. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
15. Cross, Alan (November 5, 2015). "Weekly Music Sales and Analysis: 05 November 2014". A Journal of Musical Things. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
16. "25 to 1!". GfK Chart-Track. 27 November 2015.
17. True, Chris. "Ayumi Hamasaki". Allmusic. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
18. Oricon (9 April 2001). "Japan's Top Selling Albums" (in Japanese). Retrieved 25 October 2012.
19. Oricon. 歴代アルバム初動ランキング (in Japanese). Music TV. Retrieved 2 November 2012.
20. Oricon (1 June 1998). "Japan's Top Selling Albums" (in Japanese). Retrieved 25 October 2012.
21. Oricon (28 September 1998). "Japan's Top Selling Albums" (in Japanese). Retrieved 25 October 2012.
22. Oricon (1 July 2002). "Japan's Top Selling Albums" (in Japanese). Retrieved 25 October 2012.
23. Oricon (10 July 2000). "Japan's Top Selling Albums" (in Japanese). Retrieved 25 October 2012.
24. Oricon (22 March 1999). "Japan's Top Selling Albums" (in Japanese). Retrieved 25 October 2012.
25. Oricon (13 October 1997). "Japan's Top Selling Albums" (in Japanese). Retrieved 25 October 2012.
26. Oricon (5 August 1996). "Japan's Top Selling Albums" (in Japanese). Retrieved 25 October 2012.
27. Oricon (14 January 2002). "Japan's Top Selling Albums" (in Japanese). Retrieved 25 October 2012.
28. New Zealand Herald (27 November 2015). "Adele breaks NZ record with new album". Retrieved 27 November 2015.
29. Pakinkis, Tom (30 November 2015). "Adele's 25 enters record books for fastest million seller in the UK". Music Week.
30. BBC (27 November 2015). "Adele's 25 makes UK chart history with 800,000 album sales". Retrieved 27 November 2015.
31. Kreps, Daniel (29 November 2015). "Adele's '25' Sells Over Three Million Copies in First Week". Rolling Stone.
32. NME (27 April 2011). "50 fastest-selling albums ever". Retrieved 25 October 2012.
33. NME (27 April 2011). "50 fastest-selling albums ever". Retrieved 25 October 2012.
34. NME (27 April 2011). "50 fastest-selling albums ever". Retrieved 25 October 2012.
35. NME (27 April 2011). "50 fastest-selling albums ever". Retrieved 25 October 2012.
36. NME (27 April 2011). "50 fastest-selling albums ever". Retrieved 25 October 2012.
37. NME (27 April 2011). "50 fastest-selling albums ever". Retrieved 25 October 2012.
38. NME (27 April 2011). "50 fastest-selling albums ever". Retrieved 25 October 2012.
39. NME (27 April 2011). "50 fastest-selling albums ever". Retrieved 25 October 2012.
40. Ingham, Tim (27 November 2015). "ADELE HAS (SORT OF) SCRUBBED OASIS’S BE HERE NOW FROM UK RECORD BOOKS. BUT IT’S COMPLICATED.". Music Business Worldwide. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
41. Copsey, Rob (4 December 2015). "Adele's 25 logs a second week at Number 1 with bumper sales". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
42. http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/adele-scores-the-biggest-selling-album-of-christmas-2015__13261/
43. Caulfield, Keith (November 23, 2015). "Adele's '25' Is the 20th Album to Sell a Million Copies in a Week: See the Full List". Billboard. Retrieved November 29, 2015.
44. McWhirter, Alan R. (1975). Guinness Book of World Records 1975. Sterling. p. 241. Retrieved 2013-02-21.
45. "Billboard Vol. 76, No. 28 – 11 Jul 1964". Billboard. 11 July 1964. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
46. Spizer, Bruce and Ken Mansfield (1 March 2003). The Beatles on Apple Records. 498 Productions, L.L.C.
47. Crandall, Bill (27 December 2000). "Beatles Move One Million "1"s in One Week". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 25 October 2012.