The best-selling rock album of 2024 is 47 years old.
In a year dominated by pop, country and hip-hop, Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 masterpiece Rumours was the highest-charting rock album on Billboard’s 2024 year-end chart, landing at No. 34, just one spot ahead of Elton John’s 2017 greatest hits collection Diamonds.
Just 29 of the Top 200 albums on Billboard‘s year-end 2024 chart were from rock artists. Depressingly, none of them were released this year. All but five of the 29 were greatest hits collections. Besides Rumours, the only non-compilation rock albums to make the chart were Nirvana’s Nevermind, AC/DC’s Back in Black, Linkin Park’s [Hybrid Theory] and Sublime’s self-titled 1996 album.
Read More: How Fleetwood Mac Made a Masterpiece Out of Messy Relationships
Taylor Swift earned the top two spots and four of the Top 10, hitting No. 1 with her latest album The Tortured Poets Department, No. 2 with 1989 (Taylor’s Version), No. 9 with 2019’s Lover and No. 10 with 2022’s Midnights.
You can see where each of the 29 rock albums landed on Billboard‘s 2024 year-end chart below.
Rock Albums in Billboard’s 2024 Year-End Top 200
34. Fleetwood Mac, Rumours
35. Elton John, Diamonds
40. Creedence Clearwater Revival, Chronicle: Their 20 Greatest Hits
47. Queen, Greatest Hits
51. Bob Marley, Legend: The Best of Bob Marley and the Wailers75. Nickleback, The Best of Nickelback: Volume 1
93. Nirvana, Nevermind
94. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Greatest Hits
99. Journey, Journey’s Greatest Hits
104. Guns N’ Roses, Greatest Hits
106. Daryl Hall and John Oates, The Very Best of Daryl Hall John Oates
112. Abba, Gold: Greatest Hits
129. Aerosmith, Greatest Hits
141. Linkin Park, Papercuts
142. Foo Fighters, Greatest Hits
143. Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band, Greatest Hits
146. Lynyrd Skynyrd, All Time Greatest Hits
155. Bon Jovi, Greatest Hits: The Ultimate Collection
158. Fleetwood Mac, Greatest Hits
162. AC/DC, Back in Black
166. Elvis Presley, Elvis: 30 #1 Hits
169. Blink-182, Greatest Hits
180. Linkin Park, [Hybrid Theory]
182. The Beatles, The Beatles 1967-1970
187. Eagles, Their Greatest Hits: 1971-1975
189. Billy Joel, The Essential Billy Joel
193. The Beatles, The Beatles 1962-1966
197. Sublime, Sublime
199. Creed, Greatest Hits
Top 25 Rock Albums of 2024
Once again, reports of the genre’s death have been greatly exaggerated.
Gallery Credit: Michael Gallucci
