Lil Wayne: Crowned 2008's top seller

Lil Wayne: Crowned 2008's top seller

American rapper Lil Wayne's 'Tha Carter III' album easily moved to the top of the 2008 chart, selling nearly 2.9 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Lil Wayne's 'Tha Carter III' was released on June 10, 2008, selling more than a million copies in its first week of release.

Since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991, this is the first time the best selling album of the year has sold less than 3 million copies.

Coldplay became second with selling 2.15 million copies of "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends", followed by Taylor Swift's just-released "Fearless" with 2.11 million copies.

Kid Rock became 4th of the year-end chart with "Rock N Roll Jesus", which sold more than 2 million.

Album sales by genre were down in every one of the twelve categories counted by Nielsen, from alternative to Christian/gospel to country to rap to soundtracks. So the slide in prerecorded music sales that began in earnest with this decade continued in 2008.

Here are SoundScan's top 10 CDs of the year :

1. Tha Carter III, Lil Wayne (2.88 million)

2. Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, Coldplay (2.15 million)

3. Fearless, Taylor Swift (2.11 million)

4. Rock N Roll Jesus, Kid Rock (2 million)

5. Black Ice, AC/DC (1.92 million)

6. Taylor Swift, Taylor Swift (1.6 million)

7. Death Magnetic, Metallica (1.5 million)

8. Paper Trail, T.I. (1.52 million)

9. Sleep Through the Static, Jack Johnson (1.5 million)

10. I Am…Sasha Fierce, Beyoncé (1.46 million)