The biggest rock albums of the 21st Century have been revealed. Find out what they are below.
- READ MORE: Green Day – ‘Saviors’ review: their best work since ‘American Idiot’
To celebrate National Album Day, which took place on Saturday (October 18), Official Charts have released a list of the 40 biggest-selling rock and metal studio albums released in the 21st century.
Topping the list is Green Day‘s 2004 ‘American Idiot‘, which has sold over 2.6million UK chart units, based on combined UK sales and streams, in the 21 years since its release.
Responding to the news, the band said: “We made ‘American Idiot’ as a deeply human statement of defiance – against fear, against lies, against apathy. But also a character driven concept album.
“It was risky, it was loud, it was personal – and it changed everything for us,” they continued “Twenty years later, the fact that it still resonates means the world and we’re very proud that it continues to inspire people everywhere.”
It’s followed by Linkin Park‘s 2000 debut album, ‘Hybrid Theory‘, in second place, which has sold over 2million chart units, and The Darkness‘s 2003 LP ‘Permission To Land‘ in third with over 1.45million units.
In fourth place is Evanescence‘s ‘Fallen’, which has sold 1.35million units, followed by Muse‘s 2006 fourth studio album ‘Black Holes & Revelations‘ (1.22million units).
See the full top 10 – with links to NME‘s reviews – below.
- ‘American Idiot‘ – Green Day
- ‘Hybrid Theory‘ – Linkin Park
- ‘Permission To Land‘ – The Darkness
- ‘Fallen’ – Evanescence
- ‘Black Holes & Revelations‘ – Muse
- ‘The Black Parade‘ – My Chemical Romance
- ‘Silver Side Up’ – Nickelback
- ‘Meteora‘ – Linkin Park
- ‘All The Right Reasons’ – Nickelback
- ‘Chocolate Starfish And The Hotdog Flavoured Water’ – Limp Bizkit
Muse and Foo Fighters each claim four albums in the Top 40, while Nickelback have three. Five bands have two albums in the list: Blink-182, Green Day, Linkin Park, Paramore and My Chemical Romance.
In other news, Green Day recently took a jab at US President Donald Trump while performing at Ohana Festival.
Armstrong and co. have long been vocal critics of Trump and his policies. Early in June, the frontman took to social media to speak out against Trump’s authorising of ICE raids across Los Angeles: “Fuck off.” Less than two weeks later, Green Day slammed Trump and Elon Musk at their Download Festival headline set, asking the crowd to call Trump a “fat bastard”, also telling them: “Ladies and gentlemen, we are slipping into fascism… it’s up to us to fight back!”
While performing on Independence Day (July 4), Armstrong led chants of “Fuck Donald Trump”, just hours after Trump signed his much-criticised One Big Beautiful Bill into law.
Elsewhere, Green Day recently shared the first trailer for their new road trip comedy film New Years Rev. The film was first announced back in February, with Variety reporting at the time that it was a road trip comedy produced by all three band members and directed by Lee Kirk. The band then put out a casting call for the film, asking for “punks, emo, hardcore, alternative and rocker young adults”.
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