List of fastest-selling albums

This is a list of the world's fastest-selling albums of recorded music. To appear on the list, the figure must have been published by a reliable source and all sales must have occurred in the first week of release. This list can contain any type of album, including studio albums, extended plays, greatest hits, compilations, various artists, soundtracks and remixes. Market order within the article is ranked alphabetically. Albums within each table are listed in order of number of copies sold and thereafter by the artist's first name.

Argentina
This is a list of the fastest-selling albums in Argentina.

Canada
This is a list of the fastest-selling albums in Canada since Nielsen SoundScan tracking began in 1995. 25 by Adele is the fastest-selling album of all time in Canada with over 305,928 copies sold in its first seven days of release.

China
This is a list of the fastest-selling albums in China.

Colombia
This is a list of the fastest-selling albums in Colombia.

France
This is a list of the fastest-selling albums in France.

Germany
This is a list of the fastest-selling albums in Germany.

Ireland
In Ireland, the fastest-selling album is The Best of 1980–1990 by U2 in November 1998.

Japan
This is a list of the fastest-selling albums in Japan since Oricon was founded in November 1967. The top two sales records were achieved in the same week, on March 28, 2001, as both albums were promoted as a direct competition between J-pop singer-songwriters Hikaru Utada and Ayumi Hamasaki by their respective labels. Distance would debut at Number 1 in the first week, while A BEST would also reach Number 1 in the following week.

Mexico
Luis Miguel holds several of the fastest-selling albums in Mexico. His seventh studio album Cómplices sold 320,000 units in its first day alone.

New Zealand
This is a list of the fastest-selling albums in New Zealand since the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand, later renamed as Recorded Music NZ, was founded in 1972. 25 by Adele is the fastest-selling album of all time in NZ with over 18,766 copies sold in its first seven days following release.

South Korea
This is a list of the fastest-selling albums in South Korea as recorded by the Hanteo Information System established in 1993. Seventeenth Heaven by Seventeen is the fastest-selling album of all time in South Korea with 5,091,887 copies shipped to stores in its first seven days of release.

United Kingdom
This is a list of the fastest-selling albums in the United Kingdom. 25 by Adele is the fastest-selling album of all time in the UK with just over 803,000 copies sold in its first seven days.

Notes:
 * Be Here Now was unconventionally released on a Thursday and debuted at number one based on three-day sales of 696,000 copies. Sales accumulated during its first full week of availability, which went from Thursday to Wednesday, totaled 813,000 copies, which remains the most an album has sold in its first week on sale.
 * 25 sold 439,000 copies in its second week.
 * 25 sold 450,000 copies in its fifth week.

United States
This is a list of the fastest-selling albums (pure sales) in the United States since Nielsen SoundScan tracking began on March 1, 1991. 25 by Adele is the fastest-selling album of all time in the US with 3,378,000 copies sold in its first seven days.

Notes:

Pre-SoundScan era
The following albums predate the introduction of Nielsen SoundScan, and are possibly subject to manipulation or inflation as sales were self-reported by record labels:


 * John Fitzgerald Kennedy—A Memorial Album, recorded on the day of John F. Kennedy's assassination, sold 4 million copies at 99 cents each within six days of its release.
 * In 1987, Michael Jackson's Bad sold at more than 2.25 million copies during its first week
 * The Beatles' Rubber Soul sold 1,200,000 copies in "just the first nine days".
 * The Beatles' self-titled double album (often known as the "White Album") sold "almost two million in one week".
 * The Beatles' Let It Be allegedly had "a sale of 3,700,000 in just over 2 weeks".
 * Carole King's Music reportedly sold "1,300,000 copies on the day of its release in the U.S."
 * Elton John's Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, the first album to debut at number one on the Billboard 200, sold "1,400,000 in the U.S. in the first 4 days on the market".
 * Prince's Purple Rain sold 1.5 million copies in its debut week.
 * In 1986, Bruce Springsteen's Live/1975–85 sold over 1.5 million copies during its first ten days.

SoundScan era

 * Although not in its opening week, Whitney Houston's The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album moved 1,061,000 units during Christmas week 1992.
 * Although not in its opening week, the Beatles' compilation 1 moved 1,258,667 units during Christmas week 2000.
 * 25 by Adele sold 1.11 million and 1.16 million copies in its second and fifth weeks of availability respectively.
 * Encore by Eminem sold 1.58 million copies in its first ten days of availability, after an abbreviated three-day first week.

Worldwide
This is the list of the fastest selling albums worldwide within the first week of their release, based on figures published by reliable sources.


 * Additional records: According to some estimates, Adele's 25 (2015) had the biggest first-week sales in a single territory, when surpassed 3 million-plus copies in the United States. Utada Hikaru's Distance (2001) and Ayumi Hamasaki's A Best (2001) previously sold 3 million and 2.8 million in Japan, respectively. In 2022, Jay Chou sold 5 million copies of Greatest Works of Art in China during its opening week, while John Fitzgerald Kennedy—A Memorial Album (1963) sold 4 million copies at 99 cents in the U.S.