List of best-selling albums

Legend
Groupings are based on different sales benchmarks, the highest being for claims of at least 40 million copies, and the lowest being for claims of 20–29 million copies. Albums are listed in order of number of copies sold and thereafter by the artist's first name.

40 million copies or more

 * Markets' order within the table is based on the number of compact discs sold in each market, largest market at the top and smallest at the bottom.