Nielsen SoundScan Announces Decade's Best Selling Albums, Singles

Nielsen SoundScan, the organization responsible for tracking sales for the music industry, has announced the decade's best selling albums and singles.

The Beatles' 2000 hits compilation 1 tops the album list, selling over 11 million copies. "Low" a hit for Flo Rida in 2007 is the most purchased single of the decade with over 5 million downloads.

A quick look at the list shows the dramatic shift the record industry has undergone in the 2000s. No album on the list was released after 2004, and the oldest song is from 2007.

At the turn of the century, album sales were at a record high, but illegal downloading soon began eating away at sales. iTunes and other digital downloading service arose as a legal alternative, but it changed consumer music buying habits making 99 cent songs the purchase of choice over a full length album.

Eminem is the only artist with two albums on the list while Lady Gaga scores two singles on that respective list.

Best Selling Albums of the Decade in U.S.

1. The Beatles, 1 (2000) - 11,499,000 copies sold
2. *NSYNC, No Strings Attached (2000) - 11,112,000
3. Norah Jones, Come Away With Me (2002) - 10,546,000
4. Eminem, The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) - 10,204,000
5. Eminem, The Eminem Show (2002) - 9,799,000
6. Usher, Confessions (2004) - 9,712,000
7. Linkin Park, Hybrid Theory (2000) - 9,663,000
8. Creed, Human Clay (1999) - 9,491,000
9. Britney Spears, Oops! … I Did It Again (2000) - 9,185,000
10. Nelly, Country Grammar (2000) - 8,461,000

Best Selling Singles of the Decade

1. Flo Rida feat. T-Pain - “Low” (2007) - 5,214,000
2. Lady Gaga feat. Colby O’Donis - “Just Dance” (2008) - 4,690,000
3. Jason Mraz - “I’m Yours” (2008) - 4,619,000
4. Timbaland feat. OneRepublic - “Apologize” (2007) - 4,439,000
5. The Black Eyed Peas - “Boom Boom Pow” (2009) - 4,349,000
6. Soulja Boy Tell’em - “Crank That” (2007) - 4,315,000
7. Lady Gaga - “Poker Face” (2008) - 4,200,000
8. Coldplay - “Viva la Vida” (2008) - 4,140,000
9. Taylor Swift - “Love Story” (2008) - 4,005,000
10. Katy Perry - “Hot N Cold” (2008) - 3,945,000