.

Alicia Keys, Flo Rida Top Nielsen Year-End Charts

December 16, 2008 12:10 PM ET

This year's Nielsen numbers are in and Alicia Keys is a double gold medalist, securing both the year's Top-Selling Album and Most-Listened-To Radio Song. Keyes' As I Am was the year's biggest seller, finishing ahead of Josh Groban's Christmas '07 hit album Noel and Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III, which came in third despite a platinum-selling debut week.

Over on the Most-Listened-To Radio Songs chart, Keys' "No One" was heard by an estimated 3.08 billion listeners, which means every American citizen heard that song on the radio about 10 times. Flo Rida's "Low" also had an astounding number — 3.02 billion heard the rapper sing about Apple Bottom Jeans and boots with the fur. Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love" ranked third with 2.75 billion listeners.

There was consolation for Flo Rida and T-Pain, however, as "Low" ranked tops among Most Downloaded Songs, beating out Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love," Lil Wayne's "Lollipop" and Katy Perry's "I Kissed A Girl." And in one more fascinating stat, Washington, D.C. won the award for Adults Living In A Household With An MP3 Player with 40 percent, a mere 1 percent higher than Salt Lake City. Check out the full lists of Top Selling Album and Most Downloaded Song:

Top 10 Albums
1. Alicia Keys - As I Am
2. Josh Groban - Noel
3. Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
4. Eagles - Long Road Out of Eden
5. Taylor Swift - Taylor Swift
6. Kid Rock - Rock N Roll Jesus
7. Coldplay - Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends
8. NOW 26
9. Carrie Underwood - Carnival Ride
10. Garth Brooks - The Ultimate Hits

Most Digitally Downloaded Song
1. Flo Rida Featuring T-Pain - "Low"
2. Leona Lewis -" "Bleeding Love"
3. Lil Wayne Featuring Static Major - "Lollipop"
4. Katy Perry -" "I Kissed a Girl"
5. Coldplay - "Viva La Vida"
6. Sara Bareilles - "Love Song"
7. Timbaland Featuring OneRepublic - "Apologize"
8. Jordin Sparks & Chris Brown - "No Air"
9. Rihanna - "Disturbia"
10. Madonna Featuring Justin Timberlake - "4 Minutes"

Related Stories:
50 Best Albums of 2008
100 Top Singles of 2008
Final 2007 Nielsen Numbers: Groban, Eagles, Nickelback, Soulja Boy Lead the Way

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

prev
Music Main Next

blog comments powered by Disqus
Stay Connected

Sign up to get Rolling Stone's daily newsletter.

Song Stories

“Baby Got Back”

Sir Mix-a-Lot | 1992

While watching a Budweiser commercial during the Super Bowl, Sir Mix-a-Lot thought the skinny female models in the ad didn’t represent reality. So he wrote this ode to ample bottoms, featuring its famous to-the-point lyric: “I like big butts and I cannot lie.” MTV banished the video, featuring shaking booties and sexually suggestive fruit, to 9 p.m. or later. “I thought my career was over,” he told Rolling Stone. “Then I called Rick Rubin, and I told him the video was banned, and he was like, 'Great!' We sold another 2 million records.”

More Song Stories entries »