UK's biggest selling albums of 2008

So the top selling albums in the UK in 2008, according to the Official Charts Company, were:

1) Rockferry - Duffy  

2) The Circus - Take That 

3) Only By The Night - Kings of Leon 

4) Spirit - Leona Lewis 

5) Viva La Vida... Or Death And All His Friends - Coldplay 

6) Good Girl Gone Bad - Rihanna 

7) Day & Age - The Killers 

8) Out of Control - Girls Aloud 

9) Funhouse - Pink 

10) Scouting For Girls - Scouting For Girls

Two of these made our Top 50 Albums Of 2008 list - Kings of Leon, contentiously, given its 2.5 stars rating, and Girls Aloud. (Duffy, for the record, would have been No 55, but given Top 50s only go as far as 50 by definition, she didn't make it.)

Six of the Top 10 were North American imports.

Duffy sold 1,685,000 copies of Rockferry, which was produced by Bernard Butler and released through A&M, part of Polydor.  The major label group, owned by Universal, was also responsible for Take That, Girls Aloud and the million-selling Mamma Mia! soundtrack, the year's bestselling compilation album.

Critics' favourites Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, TV On The Radio, Amadou & Mariam and Elbow (Polydor's Mercury winners) were nowhere to be seen.  Nor, in fact, were any releases from independent labels.

For the record, the two biggest selling tracks of the year helped line Simon Cowell's pockets a little more. The top 10 were:

1) Hallelujah - Alexandra Burke 

2) Hero - X Factor finalists 

3) Mercy - Duffy 

4) I Kissed A Girl - Katy Perry 

5) Rockstar - Nickelback 

6) American Boy - Estelle/ Kanye West 

7) Sex on Fire - Kings of Leon 

8) Now You're Gone - Basshunter 

9) 4 Minutes - Madonna/ Justin Timberlake 

10) Black & Gold - Sam Sparro

Are you thrilled?  Surprised?  Despairing?  Did you buy any of these?  

Comments

[Nic Oliver]

Nothing surprising there. People have a sheep mentality when it comes to buying music, viz the Alexandra Burke single. I think I'm more saddened by the fact that the horrible Nickleback are still around ...

[Christian]

Finally, some evidence that actually seems to support David Cameron's notion of a 'Broken Britain.' It's almost enough to start me reading The Mail, twitching the curtains nervously as I clutch my gun tight.