Green Day's American Idiot tops biggest-selling rock albums of the 21st Century - See the Top 10

21 October 2025, 09:30 | Updated: 21 October 2025, 10:02

The 2004 album has topped the list of highest-selling rock records of the 21st Century. See who joins it.

Green Day's American Idiot is at top-selling rock album of the 21st century.

The pop punkers seminal 2004 album has sold over 2.6million units, based on combined UK sales and streams in the 21 years since its released.

The band - who are comprised of Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool - "We made American Idiot as a deeply human statement of defiance – against fear, against lies, against apathy. But also a character driven concept album."

"It was risky, it was loud, it was personal – and it changed everything for us," they went on.

Twenty years later, the fact that it still resonates means the world and we’re very proud that it continues to inspire people everywhere.”

The results - which were part of a Top 40 of the biggest-selling rock and metal studio albums released by Official Charts - also saw Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory take second place on the list, selling over 2 million units, while The Darkness' Permission To Land came in third with 1.45m units for 2003's Permission To Land.

The only other British representation comes from Muse, who's Black Holes & Revelations album features at number five.

See the Top 10 below...

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• Why Green Day's American Idiot is still so relevant today
• Queen named UK’s most played rock act of 21st century

See the Top 10 best-selling rock albums of the 21st Century:

1. American Idiot – Green Day
2. Hybrid Theory – Linkin Park
3. Permission To Land – The Darkness
4. Fallen – Evanescence
5. Black Holes and Revelations – Muse
6. The Black Parade – My Chemical Romance
7. Silver Side Up – Nickelback
8. Meteora – Linkin Park
9. All The Right Reasons – Nickelback
10. Chocolate Starfish And The Hotdog Flavoured Water – Limp Bizkit

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