Country Singer Morgan Wallen scores top selling album of 2021

NEW YORK (AP) – The most popular album of 2021 was an album that the music industry shunned.

“Dangerous: The Double Album” by Morgan Wallen moved 3.2 million units in the past year, according to MRC Data, formerly Nielsen Soundscan.

After video surfaced last year of Wallen using a racial slur, his label dropped him, he was disqualified from awards shows and his music was temporarily pulled from radio and streaming surfaces.

Olivia Rodrigo’s “Sour” was the second-most popular album of 2021, with 2.9 million units.

Drake’s “Certified Lover Boy” was third, followed by “30” by Adele and “Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon” by Pop Smoke.

There was a notable milestone this past year: for the first time since 1991, vinyl sales surpassed CDs as the most-sold physical format.