What are the best selling albums of all time? An iconic rock band just moved up the list.
On Wednesday, the Recording Industry Association Of America (RIAA) updated its certification of AC/DC’s 1980 album, “Back in Black,” to 27 million copies shipped in the United States. It’s now the third-highest-certified album in U.S. music history, breaking a tie with the Eagles’ 1976 release, “Hotel California,” certified at 26 times platinum (1 million copies sold).
The Eagles’ compilation album, “Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975,” is listed at No. 1 with 38 million certified units, according to the RIAA. Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” is No. 2 with 34 million albums sold in the U.S. (though “Thriller” is still considered the best-selling album globally with more than 51 million copies certified worldwide).
According to Forbes, AC/DC could soon join the Eagles and the King of Pop in the triple diamond club; a diamond album is 10 million copies sold. “Back in Black” was certified 26 times platinum on July 8 (after six years at 25x status) and jumped to 27 times platinum less than two months later on Aug. 21.
By comparison, the Eagles’ “Hotel California” has been stuck at 26 million copies certified since 2018. One factor may be streaming: AC/DC currently averages 39 million monthly listeners on Spotify, nearly twice the Eagles.
The RIAA counts each digital or physical album sold as 1 Unit, 10 permanent track downloads as 1 Unit, and 1,500 on-demand streams as 1 Unit. In other words, an artist can be certified gold with 500,000 albums sold or 750 million streams. Platinum (1 million equivalent units) would require 1.5 billion streams, and diamond (10 million equivalent units) would require 15 billion streams.
“AC/DC’s ‘Back in Black’ album was released more than 40 years ago, but somehow, it’s seemingly becoming more and more popular,” Forbes said. “The set never disappeared entirely, as Americans have always loved the hard rock collection, but its performance in just the past few months is especially impressive—and the band now has the awards to show just how huge the title remains.”
“Back in Black” was the seventh album released by the Australian rock group and the first to feature Brian Johnson as its lead singer after vocalist Bon Scott’s death. The 10-song album featured the title track, “You Shook Me All Night Long,” “Hells Bells,” and “Shoot to Thrill,” all written by Johnson with Angus Young and Malcolm Young.
The rest of the top 25 best-selling albums of all time, according to the RIAA, include Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, Garth Brooks, Billy Joel, Pink Floyd, Hootie & The Blowfish, Fleetwood Mac, Shania Twain and Journey. See the full list below.
Best-selling albums of all time
1. Eagles - “Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975″ (38 million units)
2. Michael Jackson - “Thriller” (34 million units)
3. AC/DC - “Back in Black” (27 million units)
4. Eagles - “Hotel California” (26 million units)
5. Led Zeppelin - “Led Zeppelin IV” (24 million units)
6. The Beatles - “The Beatles” (24 million units)
7. Billy Joel - “Greatest Hits Volume I & Volume II” (23 million units)
8. Garth Brooks - “Double Live” (23 million units)
9. Pink Floyd - “The Wall” (23 million units)
10. Hootie & The Blowfish - “Cracked Rear View” (22 million units)
11. Fleetwood Mac - “Rumours” (21 million units)
12. Shania Twain - “Come On Over” (20 million units)
13. Garth Brooks - “No Fences” (18 million units)
14. Guns N’ Roses - “Appetite for Destruction” (18 million units)
15. Journey - “Greatest Hits” (18 million units)
16. Whitney Houston - “The Bodyguard (Soundtrack)” (18 million units)
17. Alanis Morissette - “Jagged Little Pill” (17 million units)
18. Boston - “Boston” (17 million units)
19. Bruce Springsteen - “Born in the U.S.A.” (17 million units)
20. Elton John - “Greatest Hits” (17 million units)
21. The Beatles - “The Beatles 1967-1970″ (17 million units)
22. Bee Gees - “Saturday Night Fever (Soundtrack)” (16 million units)
23. Led Zeppelin - “Physical Graffiti” (16 million units)
24. Metallica - “Metallica” (16 million units)
25. Bob Marley & The Wailers - “Legend” (15 million units)
Note: Rankings are based on RIAA certification of albums sold in the U.S. as of August 2024.
