Today Nielsen Soundscan released their list of the best-selling artists, albums and songs of the 00′s.
Em sold more than 32.2 million albums in the 2000s, edging out the Beatles to claim the title of top-selling artist. The Beatles ended up with the decade’s best-selling album (they sold nearly 11.5 million copies of 2000′s greatest-hits comp 1,) besting the likes of ‘NSYNC’s No Strings Attached (11.1 million copies sold) and Norah Jones’ Come Away With Me, (10.5 million). Eminem was the only artist to place two albums on the list; his The Marshall Mathers LP and Eminem Show records landed at #4 and 5, selling 10.2 million and 9.8 million copies, respectively. Interestingly, of the top 10 albums of the decade, the most recently released is Usher’s Confessions, which came out in 2004.
Check the Top Selling Albums of the Decade and Top Selling Digital Songs of the Decade lists after the jump…
Nielsen Soundscan created the decade lists using data collected from January 1, 2000-November 1, 2009, and though figures might rise through December 31, they won’t alter the rankings.
Top Selling Albums of the Decade
1. The Beatles, 1,11,499,000 units sold
2. ‘NSYNC, No Strings Attached, 11,112,000 units sold
3. Norah Jones, Come Away With Me, 10, 546,000 units sold
4. Eminem, The Marshall Mathers LP, 10,204,000 units sold
5. Eminem, The Eminem Show, 9,799,000 units sold
6. Usher, Confessions, 9,712,000 units sold
7. Linkin Park, Hybrid Theory, 9,663,000 units sold
8. Creed, Human Clay, 9,491,000 units sold
9. Britney Spears, Oops! … I Did It Again, 9,185,000 units sold
10. Nelly, Country Grammar, 8,461,000 units soldTop Selling Digital Songs of the Decade
1. Flo Rida feat. T-Pain, “Low” 5,214,000 units sold
2. Lady Gaga feat. Colby O’Donis, “Just Dance,” 4,690,000 units sold
3. Jason Mraz, “I’m Yours,” 4,619,000 units sold
4. Timbaland feat. OneRepublic, “Apologize,” 4,439,000 units sold
5. The Black Eyed Peas, “Boom Boom Pow,” 4,349,000 units sold
6. Soulja Boy Tell’em, “Crank That,” 4,315,000 units sold
7. Lady Gaga, “Poker Face,” 4,200,000 units sold
8. Coldplay, “Viva la Vida,” 4,140,000 units sold
9. Taylor Swift, “Love Story,” 4,005,000 units sold
10. Katy Perry, “Hot N Cold,” 3,945,000 units sold
SOURCE: MTV
Congrats to Em
where is Ye ?
Ye came out right when the piracy started getting extra dangerous, so no surprise about him.
Props to NSYNC for managing to have awesome marketing and get namedropped this many years later.
Props to Gaga for being fucking amazing.
Props to Shady, most of all, for giving the 2000′s a good name.
Flo Rida REALLY?
the fact that crank that is the #6 selling song of the decade says so much about the lack of intelligence in our society its unreal
congrat to em he deserves it
nelly rly
@rhyme inspector
shitttt, fuck the whole list of digital sales says that
theres a big market in stupid people
who didn’t alreaady know this…no shit Em is the best
why max b not on this list? that nigga sold a chrillion ooowwwwww. eminem lucky he came out when he did
^ Country Grammar wasn’t that bad of an album actually.
not like i care that much but i thought the massacre sold almost 10 mil??
God damn. My favorite artist is the best artist. Eminem
The “Top Selling Digital Songs of the Decade” would be a lot different if it started at the beginning of the decade.. it started in 2007.
wtf? I Though 50 sold 12 Mill?
[...] the other hand of Em being the top-selling artist of the Aughts, Fat Joe was one of the biggest busts of the decade, as he was unable to replicate the success of [...]
Fat Joe: The Second Biggest One-Hit Wonder Of The 2000s | 2dopeboyz said this on December 8th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
can’t believe nelly made that list.
country grammar was great tho.
Massacre prolly sold 12 mill globally, these sales are domestic
…I think
Eminem = Best to ever do it!
dammn all those digital downloads just came out in like a 3-year span…….06-08……
I wouldnt call younger kids stupid…Because thats who listens to the music..My lil bro at 8 years old aint trying to listen to nothing about “illuminati taking over his soul”….Fuck feeding politics, conspiracy theories and bullshit agenda. to children..
Lack of intelligence in our society? fuck outta here
That big market of *stupid people* are children…
Kids trying to have fun..so let the kids be kids…damn.
I swear “hip-hop purist” are the dumbest people..
and smh at the people questioning the list because their favorite artist arent on here…
Get Rich sold 12 mil Globally…. Only like 7-8 mil in the states..
@T “said this on December 8th, 2009 at 3:28 pm”
I agree.
Eminem deserves that and much more. I’m kinda confused that 50 aint on the list, but whatever. 50, Beatles… all good artists… Florida..Soulja Boy… not so… v.v”
is there any reliable way to reach SHAKE or MEKA??? I have an important question to ask, would be of great help…
Nelly FTW. Country Grammar was actually hot, even if he did put out trash later.
norah jones ftw!
Eminem fucking blows most over rater rapper of all time.
Didn’t Get Rich or Die trying do 10 mill domestic? I thought it outsold Country Grammar/was the best selling debut of all time?
The Beatles are overrated beyond belief. I swear anyone age 20 or lower claiming to be a fan is hopping on the fag-esque bandwagon.
HES A FUCKING SELL OUT BE REAL
HE SOLD HIS SOUL TO THE DEVIL
AND HE SAYS IT IN HIS SONGS
HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA
cuz em da greatest
Imagine if artists were doing 10 mil album sales these days. It’s never going to happen again.
Eminem was only in it for half the decade too
Actually, the Beatles are not from the 00′s. And Michael Jackson is the number 1 selling artist of all time. Cartoon rap is a joke. Especially coming from a racist track making snow cavedweller.
so? he’s still a racist fuck calling black women niggers and bitches
wow, where’s alicia keys? i know No One was a HUGE success and Fallin’ was her debut smash hit…
damn no kanye? I thought he would be on at least one of these lists
LOL @ L1A
[...] the other hand of Em being the top-selling artist of the Aughts, Fat Joe was named by Billboard as one of the biggest busts of the decade, as he was unable to [...]
Fat Joe: The Second Biggest One-Hit Wonder Of The 2000s | Get Known Radio said this on December 8th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
Lupe > every1 on this list
I like Lupe too but this is not a “who is good and who isnt list” Jonnie…lol
T, thanks for telling us the fucking obvious. they aren’t included. its the fucking morons 20+ supporting it that are hilarious
A
Very glad I could be of assistance. lol
Your welcome…lol
Crazy i dont have none of these
hov?
nice of 2dope to give Em props unlike RapRadar
i’m a bit surprised ye wasn’t on this..smh at “crank that” being on the list. i guess that’s expected though
haha finally a list without little wayne. Em all day.
P.S. Dame dash got something good in store for 2010 beware!
@whatnow
Jay has never been as big as he makes himself out to be…
Yeah Hov albums never have spectacular sales, probably because of the fact the guy never has hit singles, except for Relapse, every Em album has had smash singles. And Ye couldn’t be on the album sales list because I think the best he ever got was triple platinum, but I thought he beat Crank That in digital sales with Stronger.
Where the hell is ‘Kast?? …Speakerboxx/Luv Below did Diamond…
@ Rockett..
almost for all about that….You may have a point with that one..
Men Lie, Women Lie…Numbers Don’t. So is Jay-Z lying when he says he’s the greatest, because according to this, Eminem is the best selling artist…of the decade. And Em have the skills to back it up? Sorry Jay, but I don’t believe you, you need more people (besides your overzealous Jay-Z stans).
@Sincere
“Actually, the Beatles are not from the 00’s.”
The Beatles released their greatest hits album “1″ in 2000 and it sold like crazy, read the info in the post before you comment.
John Lennon > Rap
i’ve got five of those top selling albums. haha i remember when nelly actually had some respect when he dropped Country Grammar. that was actually an hot album though, no matter what happened after that. and also Marshall Mathers LP is the greatest album released ever, period.
@ rockett
that was a double album every sale counts as two sales … therefore it only sold like 5 or 6 mill or something. i remember i thought the same thing but did some reading and for some reason they count every sale as two.
@OD>
Yeah, I forgot about the double sale thing, I read that somewhere a long time ago, but forgot…needless to say, if those sales counted as one, they wouldve been number 2 or 3 on this list…they OWNED 03′-04′ and as far as african american music goes, theyre in an exclusive league with “Please Hammer Dont Hurt Em” “Crazy Sexy Cool” “Thriller”, and “Nellyville”….
@ rockett & OD>
speakerboxxx/the love below went diamond WORLDWIDE. billboard only counts u.s. sales with these type of charts. that’s why “get rich or die tryin” and “the massacre” ain’t on here cause they don’t include international sales.
btw, anybody notice that florida’s “low” sold more digitally in the u.s. than soulja boy’s “crank dat”???? now that’s a surprise.
and even if worldwide sales were include, country grammar still sold more than speakerboxx/the love below and 50′s first 2 albums
“the most recently released is Usher’s Confessions, which came out in 2004″
^ i always thought after 04 music in general kinda died..
digital sales are all from artists that have released something in 08-09 period..
Its not really that music died, it went digital. File sharing got really big, so lots of people don’t even pay for music; iTunes and Napster and stuff made it so you didn’t have to go to the store to buy albums, and it also gave you the ability to just buy the songs you like, if you only like a couple songs on an album you can pay two bucks and just get those two instead of having to buy a whole album of material you may not like. Thats why album sales have dropped so rapidly, blame it on the internet.
^ sure it went digital but why wud ppl be bothered to pay 2 bucks for 2 songs when u can get it for free..? iTunes are just a way for an artist to still make money off consumers
if i cant get it for free i’d rather go out & get a physical copy
^^^^^^
agree 100%
^^
I agree. and even if music went “digital” relapse still sold a shit ton. and the biggest reason that the internet has hurt the music industry is that people can hear the wack shit that artists are trying to sell us *FAT JOE *JIM JONES hahaha … and on a off note. predictions for Detox anyone? im thinking 15 million in the US aloned
^ i think ur reaching with that one buddy
where is kanye
[...] 2DopeBoyz] Share and [...]
Eminem is the Best Selling Artist of the Decade | hilkoo - Fashionably Early said this on December 9th, 2009 at 6:38 am
where is 50 cent …… didnt he sale alot with GRODT
AHHHH…. I GUESS….. MEN LIE WOMEN LIE NUMBERS DONT LIE
for some reason i thought 50′s ” in the club” or jim jones ”ballin” would have made the list
@ BOOWIE84 Good one! lls
And damn, “Low” was killing the itunes market lmfao!
fuck!!! eminem is not even that great. mediocre at best. he just happen to fall into dre’s lap at the right time. he is only popular because the white population identifies with him.
top5
1. biggie
2. black thought
3. jayz
.
.
.
.
499. eminem
500.vanilla ice
@ sippin n dankin
No, you are just so wrong. The Marshall Mathers LP is possibly the greatest album ever. It is in the same league as Illmatic, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) and Reasonable Doubt.
Top 5 Dead or Alive.
1. Eminem
2. Nas
3. Big L
4. Black Thought
5. Pharoahe Monch
… and Jay-Z just misses out at no. 6
@OD
I wouldnt say TMMLP is the greatest “RAP” album ever…. Though it easy top 5….
Eminem is arguebly one of the best ‘rappers’ of our time but as far as in albums he has alot of competition.
and im not a big fan of Jay but…
The Black Album>Reasonable Doubt (Im not on that RD bandwagon)
Dont confuse “best” rappers with your “favorite” rappers
We clearly see the bias…
@OD
almost forgot…
and If you throwing Big L in there where is Big Pun? Tupac?
I would pick BP and Pac over Big L anyday…..
That “best” list of yours needs some thought then rearranging lol..
@ L1A
I hope you realized that happened almost 20 years ago. You probably weren’t even alive. Lol.
Em beat everyone. Not just rappers. The Beatles are white. Em beat them. So the race card doesn’t work here. He beat Britney, he beat all those country singers and shit. Love him or hate him, hip hop won. Years ago hip hop wasn’t even regarded as a legit genre. Eminem may be white but he’s still one of our own. Big step for hip hop no matter how you look at it.
@ Kaynok
U speak alot of sense homie. Some folk are still talking bout shit he said when he was like 14/15, when he was clearly still immature. Everyone says some racist dumb shit behind closed doors, its just unfortunate he recorded it & the world heard it. Some of these peoples comments are laughable, jus appreciate he’s skills coz the rap game really needs that right now.
For a second I thought it said The Beatles sold 1.11 billion records… then I realized that ’1′ was the name of the album haha
^LOL
It’s great that Eminem was the major seller in the US this year, but id there any information on his worldwide sales as of 2009?
Thanks.