Over the last year the best performer on the RIAA’s all-time U.S. best-selling album sales chart was Led Zeppelin IV, moving up two spots to #5 while passing the Beatles "white album" and Billy Joel’s Greatest Hits Vol I & II.
Meanwhile the Beatles "white album" also made a move, pipping Joel by one spot to move up to #6. The major move up the chart made last year by AC/DC’s venerable Back In Black remains intact, however, keeping them at #4 and the Eagles still hold the top spot.
While never a race, it’s interesting to see what music buyers are lighting up to now since most fans around at the time these albums were released already gave them. The RIAA's top 10 best selling albums of all time tally now looks like this:
1. Eagles, Eagles/Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975, 38 million
2. Michael Jackson, Thriller, 34 million
3. Eagles, Hotel California, 26 million
4. AC/DC, Back In Black, 25 million
5. Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin IV, 24 million
6. The Beatles, The Beatles (aka White Album), 24 million
7. Billy Joel, Greatest Hits Volume I & Volume II, 23 million
8. Pink Floyd, The Wall, 23 million
9. Garth Brooks Double Live, 21 million
10. Hootie & The Blowfish, Cracked Rear View, 21 million
Incidentally, Hootie & The Blowfish's Cracked Rear View still holds a slim lead over Fleetwood Mac's iconic album Rumours to keep it out of the top 10 by less than a million copies...
Speaking of #11, here are the next 10:
11. Fleetwood Mac, Rumours, 20 million
12. Shania Twain, Come On Over, 20 million
13. Garth Brooks, No Fences, 18 million
14. Guns N’ Roses, Appetite For Destruction,18 million
15. Whitney Houston, The Bodyguard (soundtrack), 18 million
16. Boston, debut, 17 million
17. Bruce Springsteen, Born In The USA, 17 million 18. Elton John, Greatest Hits, 17 million 19. The Beatles, 1967-70, 17 million 20. Alanis Morisette, Jagged Little Pill, 16 million
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