Coldplay, Florence and Goo GooDolls top ‘rock’ acts of2011

Wed 18th Jan, 2012 in International News

While the internet was a-twitter yesterday with news that pop has “taken over rock” in the charts for the first time in seven years (and here we were thinking that happened in about 1982), the highest selling rock albums of 2011 have now been revealed.

NME reports that the biggest selling non-pop records in the UK for the last twelve months were Coldplay, Noel Gallagher and that monster of rock, Florence And The Machine.

Funnily enough, while Coldplay also topped the highest selling rock singles of 2011, 90s balladeers Goo Goo Dolls came in at number two with their decade old single, Iris. The funeral/wedding favourite had an unexpected revival last year when it was covered twice on the X-Factor. Rawk!

Top 10 selling UK rock singles of 2011:

1. Coldplay – Paradise (410,000)
2. Goo Goo Dolls – Iris (264,000)
3. Birdy – Skinny Love (259,000)
4. Coldplay – Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall (247,000)
5. Noah & The Whale – L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N. (242,000)
6. James Morrison – I Won’t Let You Go (228,000)
7. Foster The People – Pumped Up Kicks (225,000)
8. Snow Patrol – Chasing Cars (128,000)
9. Florence And The Machine – Shake It Out (127,000)
10. The Calling – Wherever You Will Go (125,000)

Top 10 selling UK rock albums of 2011 were as follows:

1. Coldplay – Mylo Xyloto (908,000)
2. Noel Gallagher – Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds (492,000)
3. Florence & The Machine – Ceremonials (384,000)
4. Foo Fighters – Wasting Light (380,000)
5. Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More (373,000)
6. Elbow – Build A Rocket Boys (327,000)
7. Kasabian – Velociraptor (279,000)
8. Snow Patrol – Fallen Empires (269,000)
9. Noah & The Whale – Last Night On Earth (261,000)
10. Arctic Monkeys – Suck It And See (223,000)