Mariah Carey [ tickets ]'s "The Emancipation of Mimi" and 50 Cent [ tickets ]'s "The Massacre" were in a close race for the title of 2005's top-selling album heading into the final week of last year, but, as expected, it was Carey who pulled ahead to claim the honor.

As of Christmas Day, "The Massacre" had sold about 4.8 million copies and "The Emancipation of Mimi" had sold about 4.6 million copies. By New Year's Day, however, Carey's "Emancipation" had sold just shy of 5 million copies, while 50's "The Massacre" remained stalled at just over 4.8 million, according to year-end sales figures from Nielsen SoundScan, the service that tracks U.S. music sales.

The two albums remained well ahead of the rest of the competition, and were the only albums of 2005 to crest the 4 million mark--well shy of 2004's top-seller, Usher's "Confessions," which racked up sales of almost 8 million copies that year.

Kelly Clarkson [ tickets ] had 2005's third best-selling album, "Breakaway," which moved about 3.5 million copies, and Green Day [ tickets ]'s "American Idiot" followed closely at No. 4 with sales of just under 3.4 million copies. Black Eyed Peas [ tickets ]' "Monkey Business" rounds out the Top 5 of 2005 with sales of just over 3 million copies.

The bottom half of 2005's Top 10 comprises Coldplay's "X&Y" at No. 6 with sales of about 2.6 million copies; Rascal Flatts' "Feels Like today" at No. 7 with sales of about 2.51 million copies; Gwen Stefani's "Love. Angel. Music. Baby." at No. 8 with sales of about 2.5 million copies; Kanye West's "Late Registration at No. 9 with sales of about 2.4 million copies; and The Game's "Documentary" at No. 10 with sales of about 2.2 million copies.

Industry snapshot

The record industry posted solid numbers during the holiday season, with 20 percent of all of 2005's album sales taking place during the last six weeks of the year. Despite the holiday bump, however, total annual album sales dropped 7 percent compared to 2004.

Overall music purchases for the year were up, however, with sales of albums, singles and digital tracks combining to exceed the 1 billion-sales mark for the first time in history, according to SoundScan.

More than 350 million digital tracks were sold during 2005, marking a 150 percent increase over 2004. Just under 20 million of those digital tracks were sold during the last week of the year (12/26-1/1), eclipsing a 2004 one-week digital-sales record of 9.5 million units and setting a precedent by outselling albums, sales of which totaled 16.8 million during the same one-week period. The feat marks the first time another format exceeded album sales.

Two digital songs broke the 1 million-sales mark during 2005, with Stefani's "Hollaback Girl" selling about 1.2 million units, and West's "Gold Digger" selling about 1.1 million units.

Latin music was the only genre to experience an increase in sales compared to 2004, with 2005 sales clocking in at 36 million units, breaking 2004's previous sales high of 32 million.

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