The all-time best selling albums in the UK

A few months ago I blogged about Queen’s album “Greatest Hits” becoming the first album in the Disunited Kingdom to rack up 6 million in domestic sales. Here is the list of the top selling albums in the DUK, from one to fourteen.

The top selling albums in the Disunited Kingdom as of 2014.

I will blog about each of the top five separately, but just to summarise

Number 1 – “Greatest Hits” by Queen

This album has now sold over 6 million copies in the Disunited Kingdom, as I blogged about here. It is far and away the best selling album in the DUK, having sold nearly one million more copies than the number two in this list. It was released in 1981, and is a compilation of the band’s first decade or so of hits.

Queen’s “Greatest Hits” album is the best selling album in the DUK, with over 2 million sales.

Number 2 – “Greatest Hits” by Abba

This album has sold some 5.1 million copies, and was released in 1992. Abba were the most successful group of the late 1970s and 1980s, and this is a great compilation of their singles, showing just how good the band were at creating catchy pop songs.

Abba’s “Gold” is the second best selling album in the DUK.

Number 3 – “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” by The Beatles

The album generally considered to be the greatest album of all time is the top non-compilation album in this list, and the oldest, being released in 1967. I will be blogging more about this album in the future, as it is, not surprisingly, the number one album on Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums. It has sold nearly the same number as Abba’s “Gold” (Greatest Hits), some 5.1 million copies, so it may well surpass it in the future as it has outsold “Gold” by a large margin over the last decade, testament to the longevity of the Beatles’ music.

The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” is the third best selling album in the DUK, and presently the top selling non-greatest hits album.

Number 4 – “21” by Adele

This album was only released in January 2011, just over 3 years ago of my writing this. It is one of the fastest selling albums in UK history, and has already sold some 4.7 million copies. If it maintains anything like its current rates of sales it will surely become the best selling album in the DUK. Time will tell….

Adle’s “21” is the fourth best selling album in the DUK as of 2014.

Number 5 – “(What’s the Story?) Morning Glory” by Oasis

Released in 1995, this heavily Beatles and Rolling Stones influenced collection of songs is Oasis’ best selling album and a seminal album of the 1990s. I blogged about it here.

“(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?” by Oasis is the fifth best selling album in the DUK.

Which is your favourite album of these five? Or in the top fourteen?

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The 500 greatest albums – number 410 – Time Out of Mind (Bob Dylan)

At number 410 in Rolling Stone Magazine’s 500 greatest albums of all time is “Time Out of Mind” by Bob Dylan. The list from 410 to 401 is as follows:

• 410 – “Time Out of Mind” by Bob Dylan (1997)
• 409 – “Strange Days” by The Doors (1967)
• 408 – “I Do Not Want What I haven’t Got” by Sinéad O’Connor (1990)
• 407 – “Sandanista!” by The Clash (1980)
• 406 – “Rid of Me” by PJ Harvey (1993)
• 405 – “Radio City” by Big Star (1974)
• 404 – “Dr. John’s Gumbo” by Dr. John (1972)
• 403 – “(Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd)” by Lynyrd Skynyrd (1973)
• 402 – “Illmatic” by Nas (1994)
• 401 – “Californication” by Red Hot Chili Peppers (1999)

I have three of these albums, “Time Out of Mind” by Bob Dylan, “Strange Days” by The Doors, and “I Do Not Want What I haven’t Got” by Sinéad O’Connor. I think I will have to blog seperately about the third of these, but today I have chosen to blog about Dylan’s 1997 album. The only artist whom I have never heard of is “Nas”, and I own other albums by The Clash and Red Hot Chili Peppers, but not the ones listed here. I own songs by Lynyrd Skynyrd and Dr. John, but nothing by PJ Harvey or Big Star. PJ Harvey is an artist about whom I have heard good things, so I do plan to check out her music soon.

I have chosen Bob Dylan’s album from this list not just because I am a huge Bob Dylan fan, but because this album resurrected his career. After some pretty dire albums from the mid 1980s through to the 1990s, this album which was released in 1997 showed that Dylan could still produce masterpieces.

At number 410 in Rolling Stone Magazine’s 500 greatest albums is “Time Out of Mind” by Bob Dylan.

The track listing for this album is

1. “Love Sick”
2. “Dirt Road Blues”
3. “Standing in the Doorway”
4. “Million Miles”
5. “Tryin’ to Get to Heaven”
6. “‘Til I Fell in Love with You”
7. “Not Dark Yet”
8. “Cold Irons Bound”
9. “Make You Feel My Love”
10. “Can’t Wait”
11. “Highlands”

One of my favourite songs on this album is the wonderful “Not Dark Yet”, but that is not the song I have chosen to include here. I have chosen, instead, the song that Adele did a very successful cover of – “Make You Feel My Love” on her first album “19”. Her version is much better known that Dylan’s original version, and in fact I heard her version before hearing the original. I suspect most people reading this did not realise that she did not write it.

For several months after hearing Dylan’s original, I preferred Adele’s cover, after all she has such an amazing voice. But, over time I have grown to prefer Dylan’s version, and my main reason for this is that if one looks closely at the lyrics they seem to me to be the kind of lyrics that it is difficult to believe coming from a 19-year old, whereas when they are being sung by a 56-year old (as Dylan was at the time), they have a gravitas and meaning to them.

When the rain is blowing in your face
And the whole world is on your case
I could offer you a warm embrace
To make you feel my love

When the evening shadows and the stars appear
And there is no one there to dry your tears
I could hold you for a million years
To make you feel my love

I know you haven’t made your mind up yet
But I would never do you wrong
I’ve known it from the moment that we met
No doubt in my mind where you belong

I’d go hungry, I’d go black and blue
I’d go crawling down the avenue
There’s nothing that I wouldn’t do
To make you feel my love

The storms are raging on the rollin’ sea
And on the highway of regret
The winds of change are blowing wild and free
You ain’t seen nothing like me yet

I could make you happy, make your dreams come true
Nothing that I wouldn’t do
Go to the ends of the earth for you
To make you feel my love

Here is a link to Dylan’s original version, but I suspect it will be removed pretty soon as Bob Dylan and his publishers seem to do a pretty good job of removing any of his songs from the YouTube site. Enjoy!

Here is the Adele version

Which version do you prefer, Dylan’s or Adele’s? And why?

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