Here is a fascinating video depiction of the best-selling albums from 1957 through 2020. Note the start with what became the first RIAA Gold Album ever awarded (for Oklahoma!), the dominance of Elvis through the late 60s, and then the Beatles rise.
You'll also note the fairly constant presence in the 70s of classics such as the various Beatles albums (especially Sgt. Pepper), Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon, various Zeppelin albums, Eagles Greatest Hits, Michael Jackson's Thriller, AC/DC's Back In Black and so on.
Watching tips: Just push the grey play button in the center to watch right here. Go full screen with the bottom right button to see the album covers. Use the pause button to study a year along the way since the video moves fairly quickly. There are 64 years of albums jammed into 2m 22s!
(Video courtesy WorldRankings)
