(Gibson)
Adele's blockbuster 21 is now officially the best-selling album of 2011. The British soul vocalist pushed 5.82 million copies of her album last year, and the singer's hit single, "Rolling in the Deep," was also the year's top-selling song, selling a whopping 5.81 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan's year-end sales report.21 entered the chart at #1 in February and has remained in the Top 10 ever since. This week is the album's 14th non-consecutive week as the U.S.'s #1-selling album.
As for the rest of the pack, Michael Bublé's Christmas was the #2-selling album of the year (2.5 million copies), trailed by Lady Gaga's Born This Way (2.1 million), Lil Wayne's Tha Carter IV (1.9 million) and Jason Aldean's My Kinda Party (1.6 million), reports the Los Angeles Times.
Music industry peeps are likely thrilled with 2011's year-end figures, as album sales increased over 2010 for the first time since 2004. Sales rose 1% to 330.6 million units, as opposed to last year's sales of 326.2 million. Overall music sales – counting albums, singles, digital tracks and music video – rose roughly 7% in 2011 compared with 2010, exceeding 1.6 billion units for the first time since Nielsen SoundScan started recording retail sales in 1991. more on this story
