Top selling Albums of all time

[madagas]

IT'S US ALBUM SALES/SHIPMENTS ONLY!! CAN YOU PEOPLE READ? IT'S as official as you are going to get in America. Soundscan tracks actual sales but has only been around since 90-91. Gnr has roughly sold 38.5 million in the US. Worldwide figures are best estimate around 90 million. Someone could email Merck...maybe he would have a more accurate figure for worldwide sales. Mysteron???

[nesquick]

yeah, Guns N' Roses have sold around 85/90 million records worldwide. But not 100 million. No. Maybe they will do it with "Chinese Democracy". It just needs to sell 10/12 million copies in the world. With a good and serious promotion, good singles and videos, it's possible I think. There is a huge sales potencial with the demos. Mass appeal. The sales of ChiDem could be pretty big. We will see that in a couple of years. I don't worry for that. Guns N' Roses will always sell lots of records

[jameslofton29]

IT'S US ALBUM SALES/SHIPMENTS ONLY!! CAN YOU PEOPLE READ?

Thats classic.

I agree with you that there will most likely never be a true figure on how many they(or anyone else) actually sold. Its just not an exact science.

[Bostonrose]

It must be noted that those figures are from the RIAA (people have called them into question), are only American and that they are the number of albums shipped to stores, not actually sold to consumers.

Didn't they start using soundscan right before UYI came out? I think that it why Nirvana  knocked Micheal Jackson out of the top spot, because they went by records sold, instead of records shipped

[Orgasmatron]

Wow I would have thought Use Your Illusions would have had bigger sales than Appetite... I mean, they're better CD's for starters...

[Bostonrose]

Wow I would have thought Use Your Illusions would have had bigger sales than Appetite... I mean, they're better CD's for starters...

UYI are not better than AFD...are  you mad, I say, Are you MAD

[Orgasmatron]

Some like Welcome To The Jungle and the rest like Estranged & November Rain, guess which I like

[WARose]

way before the greatest hits came out, any gnr article claimed that the band sold "more than 85 million records worldwide".... so i guess it`s safe to say they?re at ca 95 million records sold now. i mean how did the GH`s sell? i think it sold 5.7 million copies in the first year alone worldwide...

[jaknudsen]

Here is a list of the all-time top selling albums (number in perenthesis indicates total U.S. sales in millions):

THE EAGLES - "Eagles/Their Greatest Hits: 1971-75" (29)
MICHAEL JACKSON - "Thriller" (27)
LED ZEPPELIN - "Led Zeppelin IV" (23)
PINK FLOYD - "The Wall" (23)
AC/DC - "Back in Black" (21)
BILLY JOEL - "Greatest Hits Vol. I & II" (21)
GARTH BROOKS - "Double Live" (20)
SHANIA TWAIN - "Come On Over" (20)
THE BEATLES - "The Beatles" (19)
FLEETWOOD MAC - "Rumours" (19)
BOSTON - "Boston" (17)
WHITNEY HOUSTON - "The Bodyguard" (soundtrack) (17)
THE BEATLES - "The Beatles 1967-70" (16)
GARTH BROOKS - "No Fences" (16)
THE EAGLES - "Hotel California" (16)
HOOTIE & THE BLOWFISH - "Cracked Rear View" (16)
ELTON JOHN - "Greatest Hits" (16)
LED ZEPPELIN - "Physical Graffiti" (16)
ALANIS MORISSETTE - "Jagged Little Pill" (16)
THE BEATLES - "The Beatles 1962-66" (15)
BEE GEES - "Saturday Night Fever" (soundtrack) (15)
GUNS N' ROSES - "Appetite for Destruction" (15)
PINK FLOYD - "Dark Side of the Moon" (15)
SANTANA - "Supernatural" (15)
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN - "Born in the U.S.A." (15)
BACKSTREET BOYS - "Backstreet Boys" (14)
GARTH BROOKS - "Ropin' the Wind" (14)
JOURNEY - "Greatest Hits" (14)
MEAT LOAF - "Bat Out of Hell" (14)
METALLICA - "Metallica" (14)
SIMON & GARFUNKEL - "Simon & Garfunkel's Greatest Hits" (14)
BRITNEY SPEARS - "... Baby One More Time" (14)

It really surprises me that Dark Side Of The Moon is that low 

[chriskon72]

Yeah I agree something is strange with those numbers. It was published for the longest time that Dark Side of the Moon out sold The Wall by far and now its behind in the ranking. Weird, they look like they should be reversed that would make more sense to me. I simply can't beleive that AFD has out sold or sold the same amount of copies as Dark Side of the Moon even worse Jagged Little Pill and Hootie sold more as well.... that's screwed!

[chriskon72]

... Not only that where the hell is Sgt. Peppers   give me a break smells like bullshit to me

[Judge Dredd]

... Not only that where the hell is Sgt. Peppers   give me a break smells like bullshit to me

This is American sales, and whilst 'Sgt. Pepper...' is acclaimed (wrongly in my opinion) as the best Beatles album, it doesn't mean it sold the most.

'The Beatles' came out at a time when 'Beatle-Mania' was bonkers and everyone with a pulse and wanted to be cool, bought it.

[chriskon72]

First off..... I was talking about American sales. I remember when Thriller became number 1 in sales (which tells you I'm getting old haha) on the news it was reported it surpassed the sales of Sgt.Pepper and Rumors by Mac 3rd at that time, it was only much later that the Eagles passed them all (with the help of their comeback tours in the late 90's).

By the way just for the record I consider "Revolver" the best Beatles album

one more point where is "The Joshua Tree" it sold a crap load of copies and is not on the list either

Cheers 

[madagas]

Are you ignorant-seriously? Go to the links I provided on the prior page and scroll down-all your questions will be there.? THE LIST WAS UPDATED TWO WEEKS AGO. This is funny as hell. By the way, double albums/cd's sold together like the Wall, Physical Graffitti, Billy Joel, and The Beatles (White Album) get double credit-in other words, if they shipped 11 million, they are put on the list at 22 million since they technically shipped two records per transaction. GO TO THE RIAA WEBSITE.

[chriskon72]

Take it easy there madagas!

Just after I posted I went to the RIAA link you provided and stand corrected I was posting of things I thought I remebered I stand corrected. I seriously thought that Sgt.Peppers sold alot more copies. And as you state the dbl albums count I am technically not wrong about Dark Side out selling The Wall.

[Gargh!]

'The Beatles' came out at a time when 'Beatle-Mania' was bonkers and everyone with a pulse and wanted to be cool, bought it.

No, The Beatles came out in 1968, Beatlemania was 1963- early 1966ish.  If it was the buzz of Beatlemania that drove them into the lists then it would be A Hard Day's Night or Help! that got them there.  A case could be put forward for Rubber Soul, which in terms of the songwriting is surely their best album, but I would contend that as it isn't a Beatlemania album as such, its a much more mature effort than that.

[uzisuicide2002]

App sold 22+ in the US along. UYI1&2 have sold 15+ LIES has sold 10+

[brock]

App sold 22+ in the US along. UYI1&2 have sold 15+ LIES has sold 10+

If thats true, why is the OFFICIAL list for American sales showing something different.

If you are going to open your piehole, have some evidence behind it

[Chief]

please do tell your source...

App sold 22+ in the US along. UYI1&2 have sold 15+ LIES has sold 10+

[Crazyman]

App sold 22+ in the US along. UYI1&2 have sold 15+ LIES has sold 10+

If thats true, why is the OFFICIAL list for American sales showing something different.

Because they haven't been certified lately?

AFD has probably sold around 18 mil in the US, although it only shows 15, because thats when it was last certified (1999)

Other than GH, the last official certification (I think, anyway) was in June 2001 for Live Era.