It came out in 2011, but Adele’s “21″ was the top-selling album of 2012.
That is according to Nielsen SoundScan’s year-end report, issued today. “21″ sold 4.41 million copies in 2012, besting second place finisher Taylor Swift’s “Red” by more than 1 million sales. Brit boy band One Direction landed two albums in the top five, and Mumford & Sons‘ “Babel” (No. 4) rounded out the top 10′s upper half. Meanwhile, half of the year’s top sellers were country sets — if you still count Swift as country, which is arguable.
Overall album sales were down 4 percent from 2011, with nearly 316 million albums sold, to 2011′s 331 million.
On the digital singles side, Gotye and Kimbra’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” was the year’s best-selling single, selling 6.8 million copies. Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” was second with 6.47 million sales, while both fun. and Maroon 5 scored two songs apiece in the Top 10.
Elsewhere, vinyl sales continued to grow, with an 18 percent increase in sales from 2011. But the numbers were so small — a total of 4.55 million vinyl records were sold in 2012, up from 3.87 million in 2011 — that it’s difficult to get too excited about. Jack White’s “Blunderbuss” was the year’s best-selling vinyl album, with 34,000 units sold.
Top 10 selling albums of 2012 (sales in parentheses, figures according to Nielsen SoundScan)
1. Adele, 21 (4.41 million)
2. Taylor Swift, Red (3.11 million)
3. One Direction, Up All Night (1.62 million)
4. Mumford & Sons, Babel (1.46 million)
5. One Direction, Take Me Home (1.34 million)
6. Justin Bieber, Believe (1.34 million)
7. Carrie Underwood, Blown Away (1.2 million)
8. Luke Bryan, Tailgates & Tanlines (1.1 million)
9. Lionel Richie, Tuskegee (1.07 million)
10. Jason Aldean, Night Train (1.02 million)
Top 10 selling singles of 2012 (sales in parentheses, figures according to Nielsen SoundScan)
1. Gotye f/ Kimbra, Somebody That I Used to Know (6.8 million)
2. Carly Rae Jepsen, Call Me Maybe (6.42 million)
3. Fun. f/ Janelle Monae, We Are Young (5.95 million)
4. Maroon 5 f/ Wiz Khalifa, Payphone (4.76 million)
5. Nicki Minaj, Starships (3.98 million)
6. One Direction, What Makes You Beautiful (3.89 million)
7. Fun., Some Nights (3.84 million)
8. Kelly Clarkson, Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You) (3.82 million)
9. Psy, Gangnam Style (3.59 million)
10. Maroon 5, One More Night (3.46 million)
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