In the late 1990s and early 2000s, you would be hard-pressed to find a bigger star on the planet than Christina Aguilera. Along with her contemporary Britney Spears, Aguilera brought bubblegum pop back into the mainstream, ushering in a new generation of pop stars in their wake. Aguilera would use the phenomenal success she received with her debut album to explore an ever-changing musical landscape with all her subsequent releases, switching genres along with her visual aesthetic with each new musical era.
Over the years, in between recording music, Aguilera has ventured into other avenues in the entertainment industry, including starring in a film alongside music and movie legend Cher, as well as serving as a judge on the music talent program The Voice. Between these other opportunities, and the several hiatuses she has taken to focus on her family, Aguilera has always returned to music.
Most recently, she released "Pa Mis Muchachas", the lead single from her upcoming Spanish language album, her first Latin music in two decades, and a clear departure from her previous release Liberation, a pop, R&B, and hip-hop record, with soul, reggaeton, trap, Southern rock, and dancehall elements. Aguilera clearly thrives creatively with the ability to explore multiple genres, but does this always equate to commercial success for the 41-year-old singer? Let's find out which of her albums were her best sellers.
10 'Liberation' Is Aguilera's Lowest Seller
We start the list with Liberation, Aguilera's latest full-length release from 2018 that arrived after a six-year break and years of promises from the singer that the album was coming soon. Liberation debuted at number six on the Billboard Hot 100 with 68,000 album-equivalent units (AEUs), Aguilera's lowest selling in her twenty-year history of releasing music. The album would go on to sell 100,000 AEUs.
9 'Lotus' Is Certified Gold
Lotus arrived in 2012, two years after she had dropped her previous two albums within five months of each other. Preceded by lead single "Your Body", Lotus was a pop record with elements of dance-pop and rock, as well as several piano-led ballads, including "Just A Fool," her collaboration with fellow The Voice judge Blake Shelton. It has sold 303,000 copies and has been certified Gold for moving 500,000 AEUs.
8 'Bionic' Was Illegally Downloaded
Aguilera's sixth studio Bionic arrived in the summer of 2010 with 110,000 copies, but that doesn't mean more people didn't listen as it has the unusual distinction of being the second most illegally downloaded album of 2010. Aguilera has blamed the drop in album sales from her previous releases was because the future-pop record was "too ahead of its time for certain people." It would end up being certified Gold for moving 500,000 AEUs, plus an additional 100,000 worldwide.
7 Christina Aguilera's First Greatest Hits Collection Sold More Than 1 Million Copies
Aguilera released Keeps Gettin' Better: A Decade of Hits in 2008, well before streaming introduced playlists and made greatest hits compilations essentially moot. The album has sold 614,000 copies in the US and 1,038,500 worldwide.
6 Christina Aguilera Provided The Soundtrack To 'Burlesque'
In 2010 Aguilera made her feature film debut starring alongside Cher in Burlesque, a backstage musical set in a burlesque club in Los Angeles. The accompanying soundtrack, released just five months after Bionic, featured ten tracks, eight performed by Aguilera and two by Cher. Aguilera was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance of the track "Bound to You" but was beaten by her costar Cher's contribution, "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me". The album has sold 1,049,000 copies worldwide.
5 Christina Aguilera's Christmas Album Went Platinum
It's a kind of right of passage for a pop star to release a Christmas album, and Christina Aguilera did so only a year after her debut album. My Kind of Christmas features a mix of Christmas standards and original recordings, and received mixed reviews from critics, but is a favorite of Ty Dolla $ign. The album had a slow initial release, selling 25,000 in its opening week in 200, but would go on to be certified Platinum for sales of over 1 million.
4 'Mi Reflejo' Was Her First Spanish Language Album
Thirteen months after the release of her first studio album, Aguilera, who has Ecuadorian heritage on her father's side, released Mi Reflejo, her second studio album, recorded entirely in Spanish. Consisting of a mix of original songs, covers, and Spanish rerecordings of songs from her debut, Mi Reflejo was a critical success that resulted in the singer receiving the Latin Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Album. It has sold over 2.2 million albums worldwide.
3 'Back To Basics' Sold 5 Million Copies
Despite not selling the most copies, Aguilera's fifth studio album Back to Basics is her most successful commercially and critically, receiving positive reviews from critics and landing atop the charts in a dozen countries. Back to Basics was a double album inspired by Aguilera's idols of the 1920s-1950s, and the fusion of old-school jazz and soul was a completely new sound for her. The star adopted an alter ego she named Baby Jane, who was inspired by classic Hollywood actresses, to promote the album. Back to Basics has sold over 5 million copies worldwide.
2 'Stripped' Sold 10 Million Copies
After the release of her first studio album, her first Spanish language album, and her first Christmas album, Aguilera was dissatisfied with the image of her that her management team was marketing, and sought to gain more creative control over her image and sound. The resulting product, Stripped, was so named for the singer "being emotionally stripped down" and baring her heart and soul on the album, as expressed through the personality of Xtina that she molded her image to. The twenty-track album heralded five singles and was nominated for five Grammy Awards, winning one. Receiving multiple Gold and Platinum certifications around the globe, Stripped has sold over 4.4 million copies in the US and over 10 million worldwide.
1 'Christina Aguilera' Sold 14 Million Copies
Despite subsequently releasing seven more studio albums, plus a soundtrack and greatest hits collection, Aguilera has not been able to replicate the success of her very first album, Christina Aguilera. The album debuted at number, one, produced three number one singles and earned Aguilera the Grammy Award for Best New Artist. With over 9 million copies sold in the US and more than 14 million worldwide, Christina Aguilera remains one of the best-selling female albums of all time, earning a place on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 200 Definitive Album's list, and sending Aguilera to number 58 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Greatest Singers.
