Adele’s domination of the album charts led a Pop resurgence in the UK in 2011, helping the music genre outsell Rock for the first time in seven years.
The Offficial Charts Company reports big-selling albums by Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga and Jessie J were led by the unstoppable Adele’s 14-times platinum album “21,” pushing Pop music to 7 of the Top 10 albums of 2011.
Pop boosted its share from 30.9% to 33.6% year-on-year – the genre’s biggest slice of the market since 1999.
By contrast, rock’s portion of album sales in 2011 fell from 31.2% to 29.4%, the lowest tally for guitar bands since 2003 (29.2%) and a significant drop from this century’s high of 41.5% in 2004.
The exception was Coldplay (who are considered a rock band in the UK), as “Mylo Xyloto” smashed records in October by becoming the fastest-selling digital album in Official Albums Charts history, selling over 80,000 copies in its first week, and going on to become the 6th biggest-selling album of the year. The only other rock album to land in the year-end Top 20 was Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds at #14.
Top 20 UK Albums Of 2011
Official Charts Company
Reported January 2, 2012 (sales figures in brackets)
01 – “21” - ADELE ( 3,772,000 )
02 – “Christmas” - MICHAEL BUBLE ( 1,292,000 )
03 – “Doo-Wops & Hooligans” - BRUNO MARS ( 1,214,420 )
04 – “19” - ADELE ( 1,210,410 )
05 – “Mylo Xyloto” - COLDPLAY ( 907,000 )
06 – “Loud” - RIHANNA ( 876,000 )
07 – “Born This Way” - LADY GAGA ( 821,000 )
08 – “Who You Are” - JESSIE J ( 805,000 )
09 – “+” - ED SHEERAN ( 791,000 )
10 – “Talk That Talk” - RIHANNA ( 655,000 )
11 – “Lioness: Hidden Treasures” - AMY WINEHOUSE ( 638,000 )
12 – “In Case You Didn’t Know” - OLLY MURS (597,000 )
13 – “The Lady Killer” - CEE LO GREEN ( 560,000 )
14 – “Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds” - NOEL GALLAGHER ( 492,000 )
15 – “Progress” - TAKE THAT ( 484,000 )
16 – “Up All Night” - ONE DIRECTION ( 468,000 )
17 – “No More Idols” - CHASE & STATUS ( 461,000 )
18 – “4” - BEYONCE ( 451,000 )
19 – “Greatest Hits” – WESTLIFE ( 423,000 )
20 – “Crazy Love” - MICHAEL BUBLE ( 410,000 )
Adele
Adele - Someone Like You
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