Top albums

Top albums – Full list – Equivalent album sales (EAS)

Remember to use the searching, filtering, and sorting options to make the most out of the ranking, like top sellers per year or per decade!

Please keep in mind that some artists are missing, because their analysis has not been done yet. Here is the complete list of covered artists.

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#	g#	Cover	Album	Studio album (EAS)	Other LPs (EAS)	Physical singles (units sold)	Digital singles (units sold)	Streams	Daily streams	Total EAS	Gender	Language	Genre	Year
	1		Thriller Michael Jackson	65,800,000	40,504,000	17,430,000	28,040,000	7,707,000 (05/22/25)	Av.: 2,400 LD: 3,870	123,446,000	Solo - Male	English	Pop	1,982
	2		Hotel California Eagles	30,050,000	37,108,000	5,790,000	8,620,000	3,205,000 (05/22/25)	Av.: 1,040 LD: 1,450	73,393,000	Group - Male	English	Rock	1,976
	3		Saturday Night Fever Bee Gees & Various Artists	34,800,000	24,813,000	19,810,000	8,900,000	4,732,000 (05/22/25)	Av.: 1,510 LD: 2,570	71,623,000	Various	English	Pop	1,977
	4		Rumours Fleetwood Mac	37,817,000	21,113,000	5,900,000	15,000,000	6,903,000 (05/22/25)	Av.: 3,010 LD: 4,410	69,853,000	Group - Mixed	English	Rock	1,977
	5		Bad Michael Jackson	33,600,000	22,287,000	13,160,000	16,010,000	4,498,000 (05/22/25)	Av.: 1,370 LD: 2,300	66,735,000	Solo - Male	English	Pop	1,987
	6		Back In Black AC/DC	35,810,000	19,149,000	1,847,000	13,830,000	6,013,000 (05/22/25)	Av.: 2,030 LD: 2,920	63,601,000	Group - Male	English	Hard Rock / Metal	1,980
	7		Nevermind Nirvana	27,750,000	21,026,000	3,590,000	13,800,000	9,523,000 (05/22/25)	Av.: 2,960 LD: 5,860	61,446,000	Group - Male	English	Rock	1,991
	8		Abbey Road The Beatles	29,689,000	23,188,000	4,670,000	5,260,000	4,532,000 (05/22/25)	Av.: 1,940 LD: 1,990	59,599,000	Group - Male	English	Rock	1,969
	9		Led Zeppelin IV Led Zeppelin	36,800,000	18,296,000	1,000,000	8,860,000	2,727,000 (05/22/25)	Av.: 970 LD: 1,150	59,452,000	Group - Male	English	Hard Rock / Metal	1,971
	10		The Dark Side Of The Moon Pink Floyd	43,300,000	11,027,000	940,000	5,300,000	3,677,000 (05/22/25)	Av.: 1,130 LD: 2,020	59,081,000	Group - Male	English	Rock	1,973
	11		The Bodyguard Whitney Houston & Various Artists	41,100,000	6,727,000	13,580,000	10,250,000	2,578,000 (05/22/25)	Av.: 770 LD: 1,400	56,017,000	Solo - Female	English	Pop	1,992
	12		21 Adele	30,380,000	2,851,000	110,000	59,220,000	12,764,000 (05/22/25)	Av.: 5,540 LD: 5,760	54,911,000	Solo - Female	English	Soul / Motown R&B	2,011
	13		The Wall Pink Floyd	31,300,000	15,459,000	6,077,000	8,000,000	4,857,000 (05/22/25)	Av.: 1,500 LD: 2,660	54,639,000	Group - Male	English	Rock	1,979
	14		Grease Various Artists	38,100,000	5,605,000	24,400,000	6,340,000	2,496,000 (05/22/25)	Av.: 1,050 LD: 1,380	54,472,000	Various	English	Musical	1,978
	15		Slippery When Wet Bon Jovi	23,600,000	22,492,000	4,400,000	14,800,000	4,436,000 (05/22/25)	Av.: 1,920 LD: 1,990	54,068,000	Group - Male	English	Hard Rock / Metal	1,986
	16		Appetite For Destruction Guns N' Roses	30,770,000	10,822,000	2,800,000	20,680,000	7,186,000 (05/22/25)	Av.: 2,300 LD: 3,720	52,720,000	Group - Male	English	Hard Rock / Metal	1,987
	17		Metallica (Black Album) Metallica	30,790,000	8,707,000	6,480,000	16,670,000	7,402,000 (05/22/25)	Av.: 2,590 LD: 4,500	51,344,000	Group - Male	English	Hard Rock / Metal	1,991
	18		The Joshua Tree U2	26,800,000	17,389,000	4,050,000	12,300,000	3,103,000 (05/22/25)	Av.: 1,170 LD: 1,320	50,452,000	Group - Male	English	Rock	1,987
	19		Born In The U.S.A. Bruce Springsteen	29,300,000	13,852,000	9,360,000	7,100,000	3,229,000 (05/22/25)	Av.: 1,000 LD: 1,560	50,254,000	Solo - Male	English	Rock	1,984
	20		Brothers In Arms Dire Straits	30,850,000	12,534,000	3,950,000	5,080,000	2,686,000 (05/22/25)	Av.: 860 LD: 1,630	48,017,000	Group - Male	English	Rock	1,985
	21		Dangerous Michael Jackson	29,550,000	11,404,000	10,120,000	6,910,000	2,527,000 (05/22/25)	Av.: 770 LD: 1,410	47,554,000	Solo - Male	English	Pop	1,991
	22		Come On Over Shania Twain	33,500,000	7,644,000	9,630,000	6,000,000	2,439,000 (05/22/25)	Av.: 1,060 LD: 1,330	47,372,000	Solo - Female	English	Country	1,997
	23		Let's Talk About Love Céline Dion	29,800,000	12,117,000	11,000,000	4,700,000	1,438,000 (05/22/25)	Av.: 530 LD: 610	47,360,000	Solo - Female	English	Pop	1,997
	24		Bridge Over Troubled Water Simon & Garfunkel	19,580,000	21,072,000	10,840,000	6,020,000	1,737,000 (05/22/25)	Av.: 540 LD: 540	46,544,000	Group - Male	English	Folk	1,970
	25		Help! The Beatles	11,238,000	28,633,000	11,073,000	2,870,000	2,090,000 (05/22/25)	Av.: 740 LD: 690	45,713,000	Group - Male	English	Rock	1,965
			Album								Gender	Language	Genre	Year

Top albums ranking – How we build it

Ever since we talk about the best-selling albums of all time, we refer to pure sales of a specific release. American pop legend Michael Jackson‘s Thriller is often listed as the #1 album ever, accurately so, although many uneducated or pro-clickbait media (see [1][2][3]) used US-only RIAA certifications to claim that the Eagles‘ 71-75 Greatest Hits album holds the crown.

Taking indirect sales into account

Apart from the usual US vs World confusion, a more implicit issue has been corrupting the perception of the truly best selling albums of all time for the general public. That’s the difference between pure sales of a precise album, against sales of all records powered by one era.

This led the Worlds Music Awards to claim that Thriller had sold 104 million units as of 2006. In reality, these were total sales of all albums which included the song Thriller on their tracklist at that point, rather than sales of the 1982 pop LP.

It highlights the importance of indirect sales to gauge the real success of an album. For example, let’s take the fact that Pink Floyd‘s Dark side of the moon charted for roughly 740 weeks between 1973 and 1988. It’s true, but it’s only one part of the story.

Many studio albums would remain longer in charts if they weren’t replaced by subsequent compilation albums. This creates an unfair environment, where albums which were never challenged by subsequent best of albums seem much stronger than they really were, and vice versa.

That’s why we introduced our original CSPC approach, to put all albums on par, we account for every sale generated by one studio album, weight them on par with albums, and see which ones are indeed the best selling albums of all time.

It means we take streaming into account, as well as compilations which are linked to the studio albums they cover.

Conversion ratios between formats

The table above shows the best-selling albums ever using the following ratios:

• Studio album: sales of the original album (ratio 1/1)
• Other LPs: sales of compilations generated thanks to the album (ratio 1/1)
• Physical singles: sales of physical singles from the album (added to CSPC total with a ratio 3/10 for 2-tracks, 5/10 for EPs and Maxis)
• Digital singles: sales of digital singles from the album (ratio 1.5/10 for CSPC total)
• Streaming: EAS of all the album tracks (ratio 1/1500 for Audio stream and 1/6750 for Video stream)

Sales figures reflect the value as collected at the time of the artist’s respective articles while streams are updated daily. Albums from unstudied artists which gained significant streams are listed but miss the sales component.

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Highlights among the best selling albums ever

The final ranking is fascinating. The leader is the expected one, as at 121 million overall, Thriller is in a league of its own, no matter if we look at all units produced or strictly at pure sales from the studio album. Naturally, it’s also the #1 album of the 80s and from the last millennium.

Albums pushed by their record labels ever since their release, like IV by Led Zeppelin, or the aforementioned Dark Side, feature high at 8 and 9 respectively, but maybe not as high as expected. They are still monumental smashes.

Also lower here than where they stand on many lists available online are artists who’s popularity is largely US-driven. As these lists are often barely based on US certified sales, they make Garth Brooks, among others, look much bigger than he is globally. It’s especially true when this is combined with the effect of the RIAA multi-certifying albums with several discs. This shoots albums like Garth Brooks‘ Double Live or Billy Joel‘s Greatest Hits Volume I & II to the all-time top 10, which is ludicrous when we look at the best-selling albums of all time in the world.

These albums, which exploit already existing material, aren’t listed by themselves below as their sales have been dispatched into the studio albums which are responsible for their tracks. That is why popular releases like Bob Marley & the Wailers‘s Legend or ABBA‘s Gold do not appear, but instead their big studio albums like Exodus or Arrival, respetively.

In the other side, albums which moved countless units through various formats end up showing their real strength, with Eagles‘ Hotel California, Bee Gees‘ disco classic Saturday Night Fever, Jackson‘s Bad and Fleetwood Mac‘s Rumours making the top 5. The former is the biggest album from the 1970s, beating stiff competition.

Nevermind by Nirvana has been invariably increasing. Now sitting at 7, it’s the most successful album from the 90s.

Plenty is happening outside of the global top 10 too. Elvis Presley‘s Christmas Album destroys the competition among pre-1960 albums. The Beatles couldn’t miss, with Abbey Road dominating the 1960s on top of 5 more albums in the top 10.

The last couple of decades are led by iconic female albums. Lady Gaga tops the 2000s with The Fame while 21 by Adele is a clear leader as part of the 2010s. So far, the 2020s are still very young with 8 albums spread out by less than 5 million.

As for the most successful female album of all time, it’s either the Bodyguard soundtrack if you regard it as a female album, or Adele‘s big one. In any case, the British singer is likely to move on top in the long run.

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