What is the best-selling album of all time?
Michael Jackson's Thriller (1982) is the best-selling album of all time, with estimated worldwide sales of about 70 million copies.
Thriller spent 37 weeks at number one on the US Billboard 200 and produced seven top-ten singles, including Billie Jean, Beat It and Thriller. Its music videos, especially the 14-minute Thriller film directed by John Landis, helped turn MTV into a cultural force. In 1984, the album won a record eight Grammy Awards.
Exact sales figures for older albums are estimates, because sales were not tracked consistently around the world. Still, every major estimate puts Thriller well ahead of any other album.
Other top sellers
Other albums often listed among the best-selling ever include AC/DC's Back in Black, Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, Whitney Houston's The Bodyguard soundtrack, Fleetwood Mac's Rumours and the Eagles' Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975). In the United States alone, the Eagles' collection has been certified as selling more than Thriller.
Did You Know?
In the streaming era, sales are counted differently. Charts now combine downloads, streams and physical copies into album-equivalent units, so modern hits are hard to compare directly with records from the 1970s and 1980s.