Green Day’s ‘American Idiot’ Named the Biggest Rock Album of the 21st Century

Marking National Album Day, the punk band’s seventh album topped the leader board with its politically-charged 2004 record.

Green Day (Michelle Thorpe/PA)

Green Day’s American Idiot has been named the UK’s biggest rock and metal album of the 21st century, according to the Official Charts Company.

Marking National Album Day, the punk rock band’s seventh album topped the leader board with its politically-charged record, which features hit tracks like American Idiot, Boulevard Of Broken Dreams and Wake Me Up When September Ends.

Rolling Stones Fan Buys Mick Jagger’s 1960s Party PadMansion Global

Released in September 2004, the album shot to the top of the UK album charts, and has since shifted more than 2.6 million UK chart units based on combined UK sales and streams.

Green Day shot to the top of the charts with 2004’s American Idiot (Ian West/PA)
PA Archive

Green Day said: “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.

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

Green Day, made up of frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tre Cool, has been nominated for 19 Grammy’s and won four including for Best Rock Album in 2005 with American Idiot and again in 2010 for 21st Century Breakdown, Record Of The Year in 2006 with Boulevard Of Broken Dreams and Best Alternative Music Performance with Dookie in 1995.

This content is provided by Instagram and may use cookies or similar technologies. Please click ‘Allow and Continue’ below to load the content.

The group, which recently completed their The Saviours Tour, headlined Coachella music festival for the first time earlier this year and are co-producers in the upcoming coming of age film, New Years Rev, about a rock trio who road trip across America thinking they will open for Green Day only to find out that it was all a prank.

Martin Talbot, chief executive at official charts said: “We are delighted to use National Album Day’s celebration of rock to throw the spotlight on the heavier end of the spectrum – and acclaim Green Day’s American Idiot as the biggest heavy rock studio album of the 21st century.

“It is remarkable that more than 20 years after its release, the album’s message of generational disillusionment is as relevant as it ever was.

“Its enduring power underlines the importance of music as a reflection of and reaction against the political temperature of our times.”

Following Green Day in the biggest rock and metal albums of the 21st century chart is Linkin Park’s 2000 debut album Hybrid Theory which features In The End and Crawling with The Darkness’s 2003 album, Permission To Land, claiming the highest-placed British release at number three.

It was followed by Evanescence’s Fallen at number four with the top five completed by Muse’s fourth studio album, 2006’s Black Holes & Revelations.