The discography of the American pop group the Carpenters consists of 13 studio albums including 2 Christmas albums, 2 live albums, 49 singles, and numerous compilation albums a number of which were released only on certain territories.
The duo was made up of siblings Karen (lead vocals and drums) and Richard Carpenter (keyboards and vocals). The siblings started their musical career together in the latter half of the 1960s. In October 1969, six months after they signed a contract with A&M Records, the Carpenters released their debut album Offering (its title was later changed to Ticket to Ride). Within a year, they rose to prominence with their chart-topping single "(They Long to Be) Close to You", a Burt Bacharach and Hal David composition that had not been commercially successful when it was recorded by television star Richard Chamberlain in 1963.
The Carpenters garnered worldwide commercial success, scoring big hits mainly in the first half of the 1970s. RIAA-certified sales of their records (albums, singles and videos) have been estimated at around 34.6 million units. In the United Kingdom, they are ranked as the seventh top-selling albums artist on the official record chart of the 1970s. During their career, the duo scored 1 number one album and another 4 Top 10 albums on Billboard 200, as well as 3 number one singles, 12 top 10 singles and 20 top 40 hits on Billboard Hot 100. They have also been the third-best-selling international music act in the Japanese market, only behind Mariah Carey and the Beatles. By 2005, they had reportedly sold more than 100 million copies of records worldwide.
Worldwide releases or releases limited to the United States.
List of the charted and/or certified compilation albums limited to certain territories excluding US
Since many radio stations in the US adopt a format change to Christmas music each December, many holiday hits have an annual spike in popularity during the last few weeks of the year and are retired once the season is over. In December 2011, Billboard began a Holiday Songs chart with 50 positions that monitors the last five weeks of each year to "rank the top holiday hits of all eras using the same methodology as the Hot 100, blending streaming, airplay, and sales data", and in 2013 the number of positions on the chart was doubled, resulting in the Holiday 100. A handful of Carpenters recordings have made appearances on the Holiday 100 and are noted below according to the holiday season in which they charted there.