10 Bestselling Albums of All Time: Adele's '21' Only No. 4, Taylor Swift Fails to Rank

Adele
Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for Adele

The music industry is very competitive, especially for fans who want their favorite artists to achieve immense success in terms of album sales. However, not everyone gets to sell record-breaking albums. But for those who do, their names are forever cemented among the music greats.

For those who want to know who has made it big in the industry, Music Gateway — a comprehensive hub for artist services — has listed the Top 10 Bestselling Albums of All Time.

Based on this, Adele is the only modern artist to sell the most number of albums worldwide. Even Taylor Swift failed to make it to the list despite her massive mainstream success.

Check out Music Gateway's ranking below.

10. "Life After Death" - The Notorious B.I.G. (10 million copies sold)

9. "Abbey Road" - The Beatles (14 million copies sold)

8. "Unplugged" - Eric Clapton (26 million copies sold)

7. "Kind of Blue" - Miles Davis (5 million copies sold)

6. "Come Away With Me" - Norah Jones (27 million copies sold)

5. "Appetite for Destruction" - Guns N' Roses (30 million copies sold)

4. "21" - Adele (31 million copies sold)

3. "The Greatest Hits" - The Eagles (41 million copies sold)

2. "The Bodyguard" - Whitney Houston (45 million copies sold)

1. "Thriller" - Michael Jackson (66 million copies sold)

Michael Jackson Performs Moonwalk for the First Time in 1983
Phil Walter/Getty Images

Note: For Davis' "Kind of Blue," Music Gateway said the reported figure was 5 million, but it could be way more due to the steady success of the record since its release in 1959.

Tags
Adele, Album, Taylor Swift, Michael Jackson
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