Top 10 world's Best-Selling Albums of All Time

Posted by x-treme offbeat 7:38 AM

Music has been around for the better part of forever. Chances are they even had music in the Stone Age. Music grew in popularity when new technology allowed people to bring recordings home, so it was really in the 1950s that the industry became big business. So let’s look at the biggest 10 players who sold millions of albums from then to now.


10. Fleetwood Mac - Rumours (1977)
40 Million Copies

Rumours is the eleventh studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac. Largely recorded in California during 1976, it was produced by the band with Ken Caillat and Richard Dashut and was released on 4 February 1977 by Warner Bros. Records. The record peaked at the top of both the United States Billboard 200 and the United Kingdom Albums Chart. "Go Your Own Way", "Don't Stop", "Dreams", and "You Make Loving Fun" were released as singles. A Grammy Award winner, Rumours is Fleetwood Mac's most successful release with sales of over 40 million copies worldwide.

09. Bee Gees ft. Various artists - Saturday Night Fever (1977)
40 Million Copies


Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Sound Track is the soundtrack album from the blockbuster film Saturday Night Fever starring John Travolta. In the United States, the album was certified 15x Platinum for shipments of over 15 million copies. The album revived the phenomenon of disco in the U.S. and was a national obsession.

08. Backstreet Boys - Millennium (1999)
40 Million Copies


Millennium is an album by American pop music group Backstreet Boys. It was a highly anticipated follow-up to both their United States debut album, and their second internationally released CD. It was their first record to be released in both the U.S. and internationally in the same form, at the same time. In the United States, it holds the record for most shipments in one year, with 11 million in 1999. It was nominated for five Grammy Awards and spawned four Top 40 singles, including the single "I Want It That Way." Three of the singles, "I Want It That Way", "Larger Than Life" and "Show Me The Meaning Of Being Lonely", became some of their most successful and remembered hits of all time, with "I Want It That Way" becoming their biggest hit to date. It has since become one of the best selling albums of all time.

07. Various artists - Dirty Dancing (1987)
42 Million Copies



Dirty Dancing is the original soundtrack of the 1987 film Dirty Dancing. The album became a huge commercial success in the USA. It spent 18 weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 album sales charts and went multi-platinum. It spawned a follow-up album entitled More Dirty Dancing (1988). Produced by Jeff McCullough, the album went on to sell 42 million copies worldwide and is one of the best-selling albums of all time. As of 2007, it is still re-entering the Irish charts on occasion, having spent more than 230 weeks in the top 30

06. Eagles - Their Greatest Hits 1971–1975 (1976)
42 Million Copies


Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) is the fifth album by the American rock band the Eagles, a compilation of singles released on Asylum Records in 1976. As of November 2009, 29 million copies have been shipped in the domestic market, making it tied with Michael Jackson's Thriller as the best-selling album in the United States.

05. Meat Loaf  –  Bat out of Hell (1977)
43 Million Copies



Bat Out of Hell is the second album by American rock musician Meat Loaf, released in October 1977. Selling approximately 200,000 copies per year as of 2010, it is the fifth best-selling album worldwide, having sold 43 million copies worldwide [1]. Rolling Stone magazine ranked it at number 343 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time in 2003. Its musical style is influenced by composer Jim Steinman's appreciation of Richard Wagner, Phil Spector and Bruce Springsteen.


04. Whitney Houston ft. Various artists - The Bodyguard (1992)
44 Million Copies

The Bodyguard is the soundtrack from the movie of the same name, released on November 17, 1992, on Arista Records and features songs by Whitney Houston, as well as songs from various other artists. The album was co-executive produced by Whitney Houston and Clive Davis. With this album, Houston became the first act (solo or group, male or female) to sell more than a million copies of an album within a single week period. The soundtrack later went on to win a Grammy Award for Album of the Year and was certified 17× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America on November 1, 1999.

03. Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
45 Million Copies


The Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth studio album by English progressive rock group Pink Floyd, and was released in March 1973. The concept album built on ideas explored by the band in their live shows and earlier recordings, but it lacks the extended instrumental excursions that characterised their work following the departure in 1968 of founding member, principal composer, and lyricist Syd Barrett. The Dark Side of the Moon's themes include conflict, greed, the passage of time and mental illness, the latter partly inspired by Barrett's deteriorating mental state

02. AC/DC  – Back in Black (1980)
49 Million Copies


01. Michael Jackson  – Thriller  (1982)
110 Million Copies