BBC Radio 2 reveals the biggest albums of all time

BBC Music plans to celebrate the first ever National Album Day on Saturday 13 October with programming on Radio 1, 1Xtra, Radio 2, Radio 3, Radio 4, 6 Music and BBC Four across the week and on the day itself.

Highlights include Radio 2’s Pick of the Pops with Paul Gambaccini revealing the top 40 biggest studio albums ever, a three-hour special on The Beatles’ The White Album presented by Martin Freeman on Radio 6 Music with never-heard-before material from the album, and a Radio 4 Mastertapes with Elvis Costello.

James Stirling, Head of Content, BBC Music, says: “BBC Music supports artists and their albums on a daily basis across our programming. We are very proud to support the inaugural National Album Day, where we will shine the spotlight on an incredible range of music and artists.”

On Radio 2, Pick of the Pops (Saturday, 1-3pm) will feature the Top 40 countdown of the biggest studio albums of all time - the all-time Official Studio Albums Chart, as compiled by the Official Charts Company and based on sales and streams dating back to 1956. Listeners will discover where such artists as ABBA, Adele, The Beatles, Coldplay, Fleetwood Mac, Madonna, Oasis, Pink Floyd, Michael Jackson, Dire Straits and Take That will feature on the list.

Paul Gambaccini, says: "Pick of the Pops reveals Britain's all-time Top 40 biggest albums. There are classics and hits of the moment, predictable favourites and surprises, and they are all worth hearing. It was in 1967 that Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles became the first album to sell over ten million copies worldwide, a figure that was frequently topped in the following forty years. Only last month Adele's manager predicted that her 25 album would be the last to sell twenty-five million.”

The top 40 artists and albums in alphabetical order are:
Adele – 21
Adele – 25
Alanis Morissette – Jagged Little Pill
Amy Winehouse – Back To Black
The Beatles – Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Coldplay – Parachutes
Coldplay – A Rush Of Blood To The Head
Coldplay – X&Y
The Corrs – Talk On Corners
David Gray – White Ladder
Dido – Life For Rent
Dido – No Angel
Dire Straits – Brothers In Arms
Ed Sheeran - Divide
Ed Sheeran – X
Fleetwood Mac – Rumours
James Blunt – Back To Bedlam
Jeff Wayne – The War Of The Worlds
Keane – Hopes And Fears
Kings of Leon – Only By The Night
Lady Gaga – The Fame
Leona Lewis – Spirit
Meat Loaf – Bat Out Of Hell
Michael Bublé – Christmas
Michael Bublé – Crazy Love
Michael Jackson - Bad
Michael Jackson - Thriller
Mike Oldfield – Tubular Bells
Oasis – (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?
Phil Collins – But Seriously
Pink Floyd – The Dark Side Of The Moon
Scissor Sisters – Scissor Sisters
Shania Twain – Come On Over
Simon & Garfunkel – Bridge Over Troubled Water
Simply Red – Stars
Spice Girls – Spice
Take That – Beautiful World
Tracy Chapman – Tracy Chapman
The Verve – Urban Hymns
U2 – The Joshua Tree