List of best-selling music albums in the United States
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The list of best-selling music albums in the United States includes music albums that have been recognized by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for over ten million copies since 1952 , or have a proven record of selling over ten million copies. As a representative of the interests of the American music industry, this association has been awarding phonogram awards since 1958. The most successful award-winning work comes from the Eagles from 1976. Their compilation Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) sold over 38 million copies.
Notes on interpreting the statistics listed
This list includes artists whose music albums have been recognized by the RIAA for over ten million units sold or who have been proven to have sold over ten million units. The RIAA has been giving awards for the delivery of music albums since March 14, 1958. Since March 1, 1991, the US company Billboard has been using the Nielsen SoundScan system to record album charts . The data recorded by the system are not used for the audio recording awards. Exact sales figures are not known for albums that were released before 1991, which is why they can only be verified via the audio recording awards.
The albums can be found in the following table in descending order of their volume of sound carrier sales and in descending order of their release date. The table also contains further information such as the amount of the award (15 × platinum, 20 × platinum, etc.) and the album type (studio album, compilation, etc.). The information in the column Amount of certified sound carrier sales is a minimum number of sound carriers sold for the corresponding album. The information in the "Certified sales" column is a minimum number of phonograms sold for the respective work. Since there are fixed lending limits for the awards, the actual sales of the respective sound carriers can be somewhat higher - i.e. between the awarded and the next awarding limit.
In addition, music streaming has also been included in the sales statistics of music albums since February 1, 2016 . While the BVMI only uses "premium streams" from the corresponding online music services , the RIAA also counts views on free services such as YouTube. The premium streams determined in this way are offset with a factor of 1500: 1. Since 2016, awards are no longer based on deliveries of physical sound carriers such as CDs, but also on streaming: e. B. Shania Twain's studio album Come on Over went platinum 20 times for 20 million units, but only sold 17.6 million copies.
Distribution of audio record awards
The RIAA has officially been giving awards for the delivery and use of music albums , singles and video albums in the United States since March 14, 1958 . The record companies concerned must apply for the certifications; the awards are not automatically assigned. The following number of units must be exceeded:
Award | until December 31, 1975 | until December 31, 1983 | until December 31, 1998 | since January 1, 1999 |
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500,000 | |||
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- | 1,000,000 | ||
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- | 2,000,000 | ||
... | ||||
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- | 10,000,000 |
Albums sorted according to record sales
- Rank: shows the order of the music albums. This is determined by the amount of "certified sales".
- Year: the year the music album was first released.
- Title: shows the title of the music album.
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Type: indicates what type of music album it is:
- Compilation (Ko.)
- Concept album (Ka.)
- Soundtrack (Sun.)
- Studio album (St.)
- Artist: indicates which artists are involved in the music album.
- Award: reflects the highest award of the gold and platinum awards awarded.
- Certified sales: indicates the limit of the "Awards" given.
20 million or more units
rank | year | Album title | Art | Interpreter | Award amount |
Amount of certified phonograms sales |
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1 | 1976 | Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) | Ko. |
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38 × platinum | 38 million |
2 | 1982 | thriller | St. |
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33 × platinum | 33 million |
3 | 1971 | Led Zeppelin IV | St. |
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23 × platinum | 23 million |
4th | 1980 | Back in Black | St. |
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22 × platinum | 22 million |
5 | 1977 | Rumors | St. |
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20 × platinum | 20 million |
15 million or more units
rank | year | Album title | Art | Interpreter | Award amount |
Amount of certified phonograms sales |
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6th | 1987 | Appetite for Destruction | St. |
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18 × platinum | 18 million |
7th | 1997 | Come on over | St. |
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20 × platinum | 17.6 million |
8th | 1974 | Greatest hits | Ko. |
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17 × platinum | 17 million |
1976 | Boston | St. |
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1990 | No fences | St. |
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11 | 1991 | Metallica | St. |
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16 × platinum | 16.4 million |
12 | 1991 | Hotel California | St. |
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16 million | |
1976 | Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Sound Track | So. |
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14th | 1995 | Jagged Little Pill | St. |
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15.3 million | |
15th | 1973 | The Dark Side of the Moon | Ka. |
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15 × platinum | 15 million |
1984 | Legend | Ko. |
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1984 | Born in the USA | St. |
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1988 | Greatest hits | Ko. |
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10 million or more units
rank | year | Album title | Art | Interpreter | Award amount |
Amount of certified phonograms sales |
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19th | 1994 | Cracked rear view | St. |
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16 × platinum | 14.5 million |
20th | 1972 | Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits | Ko. |
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14 × platinum | 14 million |
1977 | Bat out of hell | St. |
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1978 | Greatest Hits 1974-78 | Ko. |
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23 | 1999 | millennium | St. |
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13 × platinum | 13.8 million |
24 | 1992 | The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album | So. |
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18 × platinum | 13.4 million |
25th | 1992 | Supernatural | St. |
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15 × platinum | 13.1 million |
26th | 1984 | Purple Rain | St. |
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13 × platinum | 13 million |
1985 | Whitney Houston | St. |
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28 | 2000 | 1 | Ko. |
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11 × platinum | 12.8 million |
29 | 2000 | No strings attached | St. |
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12.6 million | |
30th | 2000 | The Marshall Mathers LP | St. |
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1 × diamond | 12.5 million |
31 | 1999 | ... Baby One More Time | St. |
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14 × platinum | 12.2 million |
32 | 1969 | Abbey Road | St. |
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12 × platinum | 12 million |
1969 | Led Zeppelin II | St. |
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1980 | Greatest hits | Ko. |
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1985 | No jacket required | St. |
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1986 | Slippery When Wet | St. |
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1987 | Hysteria | St. |
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1992 | Breathless | St. |
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39 | 1997 | Backstreet Boys | St. |
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14 × platinum | 11.9 million |
40 | 2011 | 21st | St. |
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11.8 million | |
41 | 1996 | Falling into you | St. |
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11 × platinum | 11.7 million |
1999 | Human clay | St. |
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43 | 1979 | The Wall | Ka. |
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23 × platinum | 11.5 million |
1985 | Greatest Hits Volume I & Volume II | St. |
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45 | 1997 | Titanic: Music from the Motion Picture | So. |
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11 × platinum | 11.1 million |
2000 | Hybrid theory | St. |
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2002 | Come away with me | St. |
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1 × diamond | ||
48 | 1967 | Sgt.Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band | St. |
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11 × platinum | 11 million |
1973 | Houses of the Holy | St. |
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1973 | Greatest hits | Ko. |
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1980 | Greatest hits | Ko. |
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1982 | Eagles Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 | Ko. |
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1987 | Dirty Dancing | So. |
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54 | 1997 | Let's talk about love | St. |
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10 × platinum | 10.7 million |
2002 | The Eminem Show | St. |
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1 × diamond | ||
56 | 1991 | Nevermind | St. |
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10 × platinum | 10.6 million |
1998 | Devil Without a Cause | St. |
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11 × platinum | ||
58 | 2000 | Oops! ... I did it again | St. |
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1 × diamond | 10.4 million |
59 | 1998 | 'N Sync | St. |
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10 × platinum | 10.3 million |
2004 | Confessions | St. |
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1 × diamond | ||
61 | 1998 | Wide open spaces | St. |
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12 × platinum | 10.1 million |
62 | 1991 | Ten | St. |
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13 × platinum | 10 million |
63 | 1967 | Patsy Cline's Greatest Hits | Ko. |
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10 × platinum | |
1970 | Elvis' Christmas Album | St. |
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1971 | Tapestry | St. |
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1976 | Chronicle - The 20 Greatest Hits | Ko. |
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1976 | Best of The Doobies | Ko. |
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1977 | The Stranger | St. |
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1978 | Van Halen | St. |
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1981 | Hi Infidelity | St. |
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1983 | Pyromania | St. |
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1983 | Can't slow down | St. |
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1983 | Eliminator | St. |
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1984 | Like a virgin | St. |
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1984 | 1984 | St. |
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1985 | The Best of The Doors | Ko. |
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1986 | Licensed to Ill | St. |
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1987 | bath | St. |
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1987 | Faith | St. |
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1987 | The Joshua Tree | St. |
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1989 | Garth Brooks | St. |
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1990 | The Immaculate Collection | Ko. |
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1990 | Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em | St. |
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Leaderboards
If two countries are given for an artist, |
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See also
- List of the best-selling music albums certified by BVMI in Germany
- List of best-selling music albums in South Korea
Individual evidence
- ^ RIAA debuts Album Award with Streams . In: RIAA . February 1, 2016. Accessed March 24, 2018.
- ↑ a b c d About the Awards . In: Recording Industry Association of America . Retrieved November 21, 2016.
- ↑ Top 100 Albums . In: RIAA . Retrieved March 24, 2018.
- ↑ Taylor Weatherby: Shania Twain's 'Come On Over' Turns 20: The Singer Reflects on Going From Country Sweetheart to Best-Selling Pop Superstar . In: Billboard . November 1, 2017. Accessed March 24, 2018.
- ↑ Christa Titus and Keith Caulfield: 7 Fast Chart Facts About Metallica's 'Black Album,' 25 Years Later . In: Billboard . August 12, 2016. Accessed March 24, 2018.
- ↑ Keith Caulfield: Billboard 200 Chart Moves: Alanis Morissette's 'Jagged Little Pill' Hits 15 Million in US Sales . In: Billboard . June 26, 2015. Accessed March 24, 2018.
- ↑ Keith Caulfield: Best Selling Albums Since 1991 (Soundscan Era): Adele Joins Elite Club . In: Billboard . November 29, 2012. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
- ^ The rise and fall of the Columbia House record club - and how we learned to steal music . Boston Phoenix . November 18, 2011. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m SHANIA, BACKSTREET, BRITNEY, EMIMEN AND JANET TOP ALL TIME SELLERS . In: MI2N . Archived from the original on July 3, 2003.
- ↑ a b c d Keith Caulfield: Billboard 200 Chart Moves: The Weeknd's Back in the Top 40, George Carlin Returns to Chart After Nearly 32 Years . In: Billboard . September 29, 2016. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
- ↑ a b c Keith Caulfield: Adele's '21' Surpasses 11 Million In US Sales . In: Billboard . October 10, 2014. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
- ↑ Keith Caulfield: Billboard 200 Chart Moves: Twenty One Pilots' 'Blurryface' Hits 100th Consecutive Week on List . In: Billboard . April 21, 2017. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
- ↑ Keith Caulfield: Billboard 200 Chart Moves: Adele's '25' Hits 100th Consecutive Week on Chart . In: Billboard . October 27, 2017. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
- ↑ a b Paul Grein: Week Ending Feb. 17, 2013. Albums: Mumford’s . March 20, 2013. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
- ↑ a b 10 Surprising Albums That Sold Over 10 Million Copies . In: Billboard . October 2, 2015. Accessed March 25, 2018.
- ↑ Ask Billboard: With Nico & Vinz, Norway Continues US Chart Invasion . In: Billboard . June 25, 2014. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
- ↑ a b Keith Caulfield: Adele's '25' Sales Surpass 8 Million in the US . In: Billboard . July 2, 2016. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
- ^ Paul Grein: Week Ending Oct. 27, 2013. Albums: Katy Perry Takes Female Record . October 13, 2013. Accessed March 26, 2018.