Album > Single. Selling albums in the DIGITAL era in which someone can just simply download an album is much more of an achievement because they cost a lot more than songs. Of course, as long as the artist can get any of them to #1 then that's a nice achievement by itself.
When a artist scores a #1 single it gets more attention than getting a number 1 album
there is more ANTICIPATION on a weekly basis to see who has score a # 1 single
Albums cost more
you make more money from 100k albums sold than for 100k singles sold
when people buy your album then it really shows that they ARE interested in the artist's work.
