Looking at Billboard's Top Selling Albums of 2016

Vinyl Bay 777, Long Island’s best new record shop, takes a closer look at the top-selling albums of 2016

As 2016 comes to a close, it seems fairly customary to take a look back at the year that was. Today, Billboard released their year-end “best of” charts, looking back at the best-selling and most popular albums and singles of the year.

Fitting with a trend in the last 15 years, pop and R&B music dominated this year’s charts with seven of the top 10 albums coming from artists like Adele, Drake, Justin Bieber, Beyonce and Rhianna. Adele’s ’25,’ although released in November of 2015 (Billboard’s year-end charts go from December to November), continued to dominate the charts in 2016, landing it at the top of the charts once again. The album went on to top the Billboard 200 for seven weeks in 2016 in addition to the last three weeks of 2015. The album has sold over 20 million copies worldwide, earning it diamond status in the United States and single-handedly saving the music industry by promoting the sale of physical albums.

Drake, Justin Bieber and Beyonce also had a big year with their new albums. ‘Views,’ which topped the Billboard 200 for 13 weeks since its release on April 29, provided Drake with his best sales year ever. The album’s first single and video, “Hotline Bling,” became a viral sensation with many people covering the song and turning the video’s dance into a meme. After the release of four more hit singles, the album went four-times platinum in the U.S., selling more than 4 million copies. ‘Purpose,’ Justin Bieber’s fourth studio album, released in November 2015, showed the world that he and his music had matured, and people took notice. The album went three-times platinum and sold more than 4.5 million copies globally since its release. Beyonce released ‘Lemonade,’ in April unannounced and was praised by critics and fans alike. The album would go on to sell more than 1.5 million copies in the United States.

Rock, country and theatre are also represented in the top ten, with Twenty One Pilots, Chris Stapleton and the ‘Hamilton’ soundtrack all making appearances. Even though their album ‘Blurryface’ was released in 2015, Twenty One Pilots’ album was the most popular rock album of 2016, earning double platinum status.  Chris Stapleton’s ‘Traveller,’ released in 2015, took off in 2016, selling more than 1.6 million copies. Perhaps most interestingly, the soundtrack to the wildly popular Broadway musical ‘Hamilton’ was the 10^th best-selling album of the year. The album sold more than 2 million copies in the United States.

There is one release, however, that sold more CDs this year than any of the releases on the Billboard list, based on a technicality. In late October, a 200-CD box set of Mozart’s recordings was released, called ‘Mozart 225: The New Complete Edition,’ which sold 6,250 units. Technically, that means that 1.25 million Mozart CDs were sold in total.

This year’s Billboard list of top-selling albums reflects the continued rise of R&B and pop’s popularity amongst the music buying public. While rock and country have their place on the charts, they haven’t sold nearly as well overall.

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You can find this year’s top albums and more at Vinyl Bay 777 and vinylbay777.com. With the largest selection of new and used titles on vinyl, CD and cassette on Long Island, Vinyl Bay 777 is quickly becoming the island’s top new record shop. Come in during our newly extended holiday hours or shop online anytime.