Although the compilation album was released several decades after the split of the Fab Four, the album 1 topped the charts as the highest selling disc of the decade. An impressive 11 448 000 copies were sold during the past ten years.
However, when looking at the charts of the decade, Eminem gets to wear the title of artist of the decade. The rapper alone had two albums in the top ten list of best sellers, purchased by 32.2 million buyers. The Marshall Mathers LP was listed as the fourth best-selling album of the decade, with 10 195 000 copies sold, and fifth place went to Eminem Show, which sold 9 789 000 copies.
Two other albums reached the milestone of selling over 10 million copies. NSync’s disc, No Strings Attached, sold 11 111 000 copies, while Norah Jones sold 10 523 000 copies of her album, Come Away With Me.
While digital stores, such as iTunes, began to emerge in the second half of the decade, records were also tallied in the digital world, which was clearly taken over by Coldplay’s Viva La Vida.