Pop superstar Adele made a welcome comeback with her long-awaited album 25 last year, and it's now been confirmed that she was the highest selling artist of the entire year. This is particularly impressive considering the album was only released in November, despite that the Official Charts tally counts any album released after March 25. 

25 has sold close to 2.5 million copies since its release, with Ed Sheeran's X and Sam Smith's In The Lonely Hour coming in at second and third place, respectively. This is really interesting, considering both of these albums came out in 2014. Rounding off the top five were If I Can Dream by Elvis Presley, and of course, Justin Bieber's Purpose.

Adele's album has dominated the record books, earning its place as the biggest chart-topping album in UK chart history, selling more than 800 000 copies in its first week. It then surpassed one million sales after only ten days, and two million after 29, both of which are record-smashing numbers. It was also one of only three albums to go platinum in 2015, following Purpose and Drake's If You're Reading This It's Too Late. 

Here's the top five in numbers:

1. Adele, 25: 2 496 000
2. Ed Sheeran, X: 971 000
3. Sam Smith, In The Lonely Hour: 893 000
4. Elvis Presley, If I Can Dream: 881 000
5. Justin Bieber, Purpose: 645 000

Image: GoodThingsGuy