— Year-End Charts —
The Best-Selling Albums and Songs of 2010
A Britain’s Got Talent runner-up outsold every pop record in America — the last year-end chart before streaming began rewriting the math.
Artists of the Year
Top ArtistLady GagaCombined albums + singles performance
Top Albums ArtistTaylor Swift
Top Singles ArtistKesha
Top 10 Albums of 2010 Billboard 200
- 1I Dreamed a DreamSusan Boyle
- 2RecoveryEminem
- 3Need You NowLady Antebellum
- 4The FameLady Gaga
- 5My World 2.0Justin Bieber
- 6My ChristmasAndrea Bocelli
- 7FearlessTaylor Swift
- 8My WorldJustin Bieber
- 9Speak NowTaylor Swift
- 10The E.N.D.The Black Eyed Peas
Top 10 Songs of 2010 Hot 100
- 1Tik TokKesha
- 2Need You NowLady Antebellum
- 3Hey, Soul SisterTrain
- 4California GurlsKaty Perry ft. Snoop Dogg
- 5OMGUsher ft. will.i.am
- 6AirplanesB.o.B ft. Hayley Williams
- 7Love the Way You LieEminem ft. Rihanna
- 8Bad RomanceLady Gaga
- 9DynamiteTaio Cruz
- 10Break Your HeartTaio Cruz ft. Ludacris
What the 2010 Charts Show
- The year split: Taylor Swift led on albums while Kesha led on singles.
- Justin Bieber placed 2 albums inside the year-end top 10 — a share of the chart almost nobody manages.
How the 2010 charts were compiled
Every position here is a chart placement — measured sales, radio airplay and streaming across Billboard’s tracking year — not an editorial ranking. Albums come from the year-end Billboard 200, songs from the year-end Hot 100.
Billboard’s tracking year runs from roughly late October to mid-October rather than January to December, which is why a late-autumn release can win the following year and why a song can appear on two consecutive year-end lists.
Liner Notes
The stories behind the music, every week.
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