TheUK Album Downloads Chart is compiled by theOfficial Charts on behalf of the Britishmusic industry. Since July 2015, the chart week runs from Friday to Thursday, with the chart date given as the following Thursday.[1] The chart was introduced in April 2006 to coincide with the OCC's decision to include sales of album downloads in theUK Albums Chart.[2] The first album to top the download chart wasThis New Day byEmbrace.[3]
The chart is published inMusic Week,UKChartsPlus and on the OC's official website, with the former featuring the Top 75 downloads and the top 100 in the latter two. The chart only uses sales ofpermanent digital downloads, that is album-downloads on non-subscriptiononline music stores.
Before the inauguration of the download chart, only sales of physical formats—such asCD,vinyl andcassette tape—contributed towards an album's position on theUK Albums Chart. In 2004, in response to falling physical sales ofsingles, adownloads-only singles chart was introduced by the Official Charts Company (OCC); the following year, downloads were implemented into theUK Singles Chart.
In the first three months of 2006, more than 825,000 albums were legally downloaded, almost half of the entire total downloaded in 2005.[2] In response, a digital albums chart was launched in April 2006, alongside the OCC's decision to include downloads in the regular chart.[2] On 9 April 2006, Englishalternative rock bandEmbrace topped the first ever UK Album Downloads Chart with their fifth studio albumThis New Day, which sold around 1,200 digital copies.[3]
| Year | Album | Artist | Record label | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Eyes Open | Snow Patrol | Universal | [5] |
| 2007 | Back to Black | Amy Winehouse | Universal | [6] |
| 2008 | Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends | Coldplay | EMI | [5] |
| 2009 | The Fame | Lady Gaga | Universal | [5] |
| 2010 | Sigh No More | Mumford & Sons | Universal | [5] |
| 2011 | 21 | Adele | Beggars | [5] |
| 2012 | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | |
| 2013 | Bad Blood | Bastille | Universal | [7] |
| 2014 | x | Ed Sheeran | Warner | [8] |
| 2015 | 25 | Adele | Beggars | [9] |
| 2016 | 25 | Adele | Beggars | [10] |
| 2017 | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | |
| 2018 | The Greatest Showman | Motion Picture Cast Recording | Warner | [11] |
| 2019 | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | |
| 2020 | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | |
| 2021 | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | |
| 2022 | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | |
| 2023 | Trustfall | Pink | Sony | [12] |
| 2024 | Moon Music | Coldplay | Warner | [13] |
| 2025 | The Life of a Showgirl | Taylor Swift | EMI | [14] |
