Eminem Tops List of Best-Selling Albums
News



Eminem capped off his comeback last year with one of his biggest victories yet: the rapper's Recovery was 2010's best-selling album in the U.S., with 3.42 million copies sold, according to Billboard. Eminem beat out country act Lady Antebellum (who came in at No. 2) and Taylor Swift (who nabbed the No. 3 spot). Check out the complete list of the Top Ten selling albums of the year below.

Eminem's latest triumph also marks the first time an artist has topped the best-selling albums of the year list twice, since Nielsen SoundScan started tracking sales data in 1991. Eminem also nabbed the top spot in 2002 with The Eminem Show, which moved 7.61 million copies.

2010 was also a good year for Katy Perry. The pop star sold the most digital downloads with her smash single "California Gurls," which tallied 4.40 million downloads. Perry also had three of the Top 40 best-selling songs of the year: "Teenage Dream" came in at No. 12 with 3.01 million downloads and "Firework" notched the No. 28 spot with 2.33 million downloads.

The record industry is still in peril, however, due to illegal file sharing and the loss retail outlets. Billboard reported that overall sales of albums dropped 12.8% — down from 2009's 373.9 units to 2010's 326.2 units. Sales of digital singles — once a bright spot for the industry — have also cooled (down 1%), although digital album sales were up 13% to 86.3 million units sold.

The Best Selling Albums of 2010
1 – Eminem, Recovery, 3.42 million
2 – Lady Antebellum, Need You Now, 3.09 million
3 – Taylor Swift, Speak Now, 2.96 million
4 – Justin Bieber, My World 2.0, 2.32 million
5 – Susan Boyle, The Gift, 1.85 million
6 – Lady Gaga, The Fame, 1.59 million
7 – Sade, Soldier of Love, 1.30 million
8 – Drake, Thank Me Later, 1.27 million
9 – Usher, Usher v. Raymond, 1.18 million
10 – Ke$ha, Animal, 1.14 million