List of best-selling albums of the 1960s in the United Kingdom

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles was the best-selling album of the 1960s.
1960s in music in the UK
Events

An album is defined by the Official Charts Company (OCC) as being a type of music release that features more than four tracks and lasts longer than 25 minutes;[1] during the 1960s, sales of albums in the United Kingdom were compiled by several different magazines, including New Musical Express (NME), Record Retailer, Melody Maker, Disc and Record Mirror. The UK Albums Chart was first officially published in February 1969 when Record Retailers and the BBC jointly commissioned the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) to record sales of albums.[2] For dates between March 1960 and February 1969, the albums chart produced by Record Retailer is regarded by the OCC as being canonical to the UK Albums Chart; for dates before March 1960, the OCC considers the albums chart created by NME to be canonical.[3] The biggest-selling album of the 1960s was Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles—of the top thirteen biggest-selling albums of the decade, ten were by The Beatles, the other three being motion picture soundtracks.

Albums

Best-selling albums of the 1960s in the UK
Position Album Artist Record label[a] Year[a] Peak on the
UK Albums Chart[a]
1 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band The Beatles Parlophone 1967 1
2 The Sound of Music Original soundtrack RCA Victor 1965 1
3 With the Beatles The Beatles Parlophone 1963 1
4 Abbey Road The Beatles Apple 1969 1
5 South Pacific Original soundtrack RCA Victor 1962 1
6 Beatles for Sale The Beatles Parlophone 1964 1
7 A Hard Day's Night The Beatles Parlophone 1964 1
8 Rubber Soul The Beatles Parlophone 1965 1
9 The Beatles The Beatles Apple 1968 1
10 West Side Story Original soundtrack Philips 1962 1
11 Revolver The Beatles Parlophone 1966 1
12 Please Please Me The Beatles Parlophone 1963 1
13 Help! The Beatles Parlophone 1965 1
14 Bookends Simon & Garfunkel CBS 1968 1
15 Best of The Beach Boys The Beach Boys Capitol 1966 2
16 Sounds of Silence Simon & Garfunkel CBS 1966 13
17 The Best of The Seekers The Seekers Columbia 1968 1
18 The Rolling Stones No. 2 The Rolling Stones Decca 1965 1
19 Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme Simon & Garfunkel CBS 1968 13
20 The Black and White Minstrel Show George Mitchell Minstrels HMV 1960 1
  1. ^ a b c The record labels, years and chart peaks are those given by the OCC.[4]

References

General (chart positions)
  • Mawer, Sharon (2007). "1969". London: Official Charts. Archived from the original on 17 December 2007. Retrieved 8 September 2011.
Specific
  1. ^ "Rules For Chart Eligibility – Albums" (PDF). London: Official Charts. January 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 June 2007. Retrieved 29 July 2011.
  2. ^ Leigh, Spencer (20 February 1998). "Music: Charting the number ones that somehow got away". The Independent. London. ISSN 0951-9467. OCLC 185201487. Retrieved 5 August 2010.
  3. ^ "Key Dates in the History of the Official UK Charts". Official Charts. Archived from the original on 10 January 2008. Retrieved 16 May 2010.
  4. ^ "Artist Chart History". London: Official Charts. 2010. Archived from the original on 3 September 2011. Retrieved 9 September 2011.