Which Adele album is biggest record of 21st century?
The pop star’s award-winning 21 has seen the most combined sales since the turn of the century.
Adele’s chart-topping 21 is the biggest album of the 21st century so far.
The north London singer’s second effort beat albums by Amy Winehouse and Ed Sheeran to claim the top spot, according to the Official Charts Company.
The 2011 work, which earned Adele a record-tying six Grammys plus two Brits, saw the most physical sales, digital downloads and streams of any record in the UK since the turn of the century.
The album contains some of the 31-year-old’s greatest hits, including Rolling In The Deep, Someone Like You and Set Fire To The Rain.
Camden crooner Winehouse takes second place with her second and final album, 2006’s Back To Black, while Adele returns to take third place with 2015’s 25.
Suffolk singer Sheeran secures both fourth and fifth places, with his albums Multiply, from 2014, and Divide, from 2017, respectively.
And each of the top five, as well as 70% of the top 40, artists are British.
The list was unveiled to mark National Album Day, on October 12, during Paul Gambaccini’s Pick Of The Pops show on BBC Radio 2.
James Blunt is at six with Back To Bedlam, Leona Lewis is at seven with Spirit and Michael Buble is at eight with Crazy Love.
Dido earns ninth place with No Angel and David Gray sneaks in at 10 with White Ladder.
Coldplay, Craig David, Eminem, The Killers and Lady Gaga are also among the top 40.
Radio 2’s head of music, Jeff Smith, said: “We are delighted to reveal the nation’s 40 favourite albums of the millennium here on Radio 2 for National Album Day 2019 and it’s heartening to see so many British artists in the chart, proving that home-grown music is still as popular as ever.”
