INDEPENDENT MAGAZINE  ·  EST. 2019
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2026Press DeskSubscribe
VOL. 8 · MUSIC · ENTERTAINMENT · CELEBRITIES · BUSINESS
AUTHORITY
DAILY
— The Magazine of Music & Culture —
— Year-End Charts —

The Best-Selling Albums and Songs of 2022

The first all-Spanish album to finish No. 1 for a year in Billboard’s history — and it was not close.

Artists of the Year

Top ArtistBad BunnyCombined albums + singles performance
Top Albums ArtistTaylor Swift
Top Singles ArtistBad Bunny

Top 10 Albums of 2022 Billboard 200

  1. 1Un Verano Sin TiBad Bunny
  2. 230Adele
  3. 3Dangerous: The Double AlbumMorgan Wallen
  4. 4MidnightsTaylor Swift
  5. 5Red (Taylor’s Version)Taylor Swift
  6. 6EncantoSoundtrack
  7. 7Harry’s HouseHarry Styles
  8. 8SourOlivia Rodrigo
  9. 9Certified Lover BoyDrake
  10. 10The HighlightsThe Weeknd

Top 10 Songs of 2022 Hot 100

  1. 1Heat WavesGlass Animals
  2. 2As It WasHarry Styles
  3. 3StayThe Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber
  4. 4Easy on MeAdele
  5. 5ShiversEd Sheeran
  6. 6First ClassJack Harlow
  7. 7Big EnergyLatto
  8. 8GhostJustin Bieber
  9. 9Super GremlinKodak Black
  10. 10Cold Heart (Pnau Remix)Elton John and Dua Lipa

What the 2022 Charts Show

  • The year split: Taylor Swift led on albums while Bad Bunny led on singles.
  • Taylor Swift placed 2 albums inside the year-end top 10 — a share of the chart almost nobody manages.
  • 3 albums held their top-10 places from 2021: Dangerous: The Double Album, Sour and Certified Lover Boy — the streaming era’s long tail at work.

How the 2022 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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