Judging by album sales, Adele, Drake and Taylor Swift ruled the 2010s hands down. The powerhouse trio took turns topping the U.S. charts throughout much of the decade, battling fellow hitmakers including Eminem, Justin Timberlake, Ed Sheeran and Beyoncé.
Adele had the bestselling album three out of 10 years, with 21 reigning supreme in both 2011 and 2012 and 25 outselling the competition in 2015. Drake, meanwhile, finished strong in 2016 and 2018 with Views and Scorpion, respectively, outperforming his rivals. Swift, for her part, had the bestselling record in 2014 with 1989 — and almost achieved the feat again in 2019 with Lover.
Of course, all of the aforementioned albums were critically acclaimed to boot. 21, 25 and 1989 won Grammys for Album of the Year, while Views and Scorpion were both nominated in the top category.
As 2020 approaches, Us Weekly compiled data from Nielsen SoundScan — which has been tracking music releases since 1991 — to find out which albums were the bestsellers each year from 2010 to 2019. Scroll down to see the list!