Monday, May 08, 2006

The Top 10 Albums Of All Time

That story on Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon made me wonder about the latest standings for the best-selling album of all time. These are for US sales only -- worldwide, the standings are somewhat different. These figures are per the RIAA as of March of 2006. And you'll notice I've removed double albums, because each sale of, for example, Billy Joel's Greatest Hits Vol. I and II or Pink Floyd's The Wall is counted as two sales, which I think is wrong. In other words, 10.5 million copies of Joel's album have been sold, but since it contains two CDs, the RIAA counts it as having sold 21 million copies. That's just misleading and boneheaded, I think.

1. The Eagles/Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 -- 29 million copies
2. Michael Jackson/Thriller -- 27 million copies
3. Led Zeppelin/IV -- 23 million copies
4. AC/DC/Black in Black -- 21 million copies
5. Shania Twain/Come On Over -- 20 million copies
6. Fleetwood Mac/Rumours -- 19 million copies
7. Whitney Houston/Bodyguard soundtrack -- 17 million
8. Boston/Boston -- 17 million
9. Elton John/Greatest Hits -- 16 million
10. The Eagles/Hotel California -- 16 million

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