60 years ago this month saw the birth of the Official Albums Chart - the UK’s official weekly snapshot of popularity dedicated to one of the most influential art forms of our time.

The first ever chart, which was published in Record Mirror on July 22, 1956, saw Frank Sinatra’s Songs For Swingin’ Lovers landing in the coveted #1 slot. Now, over half a century of vinyl, cassette, CD and download-purchasing later, nearly 1,100 albums have hit the top spot in the UK.

To mark the chart’s historic milestone and kick off July’s month-long anniversary celebrations, OfficialCharts.com today unveil the 60 biggest selling albums of all time in Britain, as compiled by the Official Charts Company.

The “60 At 60” list also forms the centrepiece of an in-store retail campaign, which sees Official Charts team up with the three major record labels and outlets including Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda, Amazon and Morrisons to promote and sell some of the UK's biggest selling albums this summer.

Topping the all time best sellers list is Queen’s 1981 Greatest Hits, and stands alone as the first and only album to have sold over 6 million copies in the UK (6.1 million sales to date). Queen’s Greatest Hits II also makes it into the Top 10 at #10 with almost 4 million albums sold.

"What a great bit of news to wake up to!" Brian May told OfficialCharts.com. The most popular album? Well, I always thought the band showed promise, but this is beyond our boyhood dreams! Thanks folks!"

Roger Taylor added: "Incredible... marvellous... humbling... thank you... I feel good!"

Read more at OfficialCharts.com.

Watch back when OfficialCharts.com caught up with Brian May when the record passed 6 million sales:

Queen + Adam Lambert will embark on an Asian tour in September. Dates are listed below:

September
12 - Hayarkon Park - Tel Aviv, Israel
17 - Singapore Grand Prix
22 - Nippon Budokan - Tokyo, Japan
23 - Nippon Budokan - Tokyo, Japan
26 - Mercedes-Benz Arena - Shanghai, China
28 - AsiaWorld-Expo - Hong Kong
30 - Impact Arena - Muang Thong Thani, Thailand

Check out video of the band performing “Don’t Stop Me Now”: