Before "Thriller" and "Dark Side of the Moon" came along, what was the best selling album ever?

The "world"?

 

I seem to recall In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida being the first certified platinum album; the whole RIAA practice of gold/platinum etc. was pretty new then.

 

the irony is that the charts are fixed now to where artists who don't skew a mainstream radio/teen/streaming audience have lower chart positions because the labels want to buy chart positions again

 

Only because each copy of the White Album sold counted as two for RIAA certification purposes, since it was a double album prior to the CD era (when the RIAA changed the qualification for a double album to include the overall length of the work).

Eh? Dusty Springfield went on the record as saying she, "couldn't top the demos" that Carole was sending her. King may not be able to belt as effectively as Aretha or someone, but as a performer there aren't many singers a lot better than her (and on many of the '60s hits that she wrote or co-wrote, the singers pretty much follow her performance on the demo to the letter).

Actually, I don't think that's the case. I think if it's a legacy album that was classified as a double-LP back in the days of vinyl and it's being sold unaltered, they might still be counting each unit as a double. Especially if it's on two CDs. The standard is definitely different for albums from the post-LP era, and requires two discs and a minimum length, which I don't recall offhand.

I'm not sure for example of Prince's 1999 on CD counts as a single or double record now, especially the earlier edition which exclude "D.M.S.R." and shipped on a single CD. The current edition still ships on a single disc but includes the full program - since it's a legacy title from the days of vinyl, it might still count as "two" discs. Fleetwood Mac's Tusk would be a similar example, where the single edit of "Sara" was included on the original CD in order to squeeze it onto a single disc. I think current editions are still single-disc, but include the album cut.

 

Yes, very cool graphics and info. Great link, thanks.

 

Prince's 1999 and Fleetwood Mac's Tusk have not been effected by the double disc rule.

If you look at the Beatles' catalog, the Red Album and Blue Album benefitted quite nice from the disc counting... especially the Red Album, given its short running time.
But consumers have had to pay $24.99 (formally $32.99) for that set and it has always been sold as 2 discs, hence why the set is 16 or 17x platinum.

 

Yes the billion numbers include singles and eps. The White Christmas single sold every year in huge numbers.

 

Not to mention Garth Brooks (and country music in general) and Amy Grant (and Contemporary Christian music in general), whose sales were greatly under-reported in the pre-Soundscan era.

 

Just as I wrote it, nothing else was implied. I mean the entire world, not just the U.S.

 

I had read somewhere that Iron Butterfly's Inna Gadda Davida was the first platinum rock album. Would have been 1968.

 

Iron Butterfly's In a gadda da vida was one of the top selling albums at one point.

 

The top-selling album of the sixties in the USA was the soundtrack of West Side Story, which held the No. 1 ranking for 54 weeks.

 

I had a Guiness Book of World Records in about 1972 and i seem to remember it listed Bing Crosby's White Christmas ast the biggest selling album. I think the Beatles' white album was thr number one In the UK.

 

Are you sure it said album? White Christmas still holds the title of best selling record, but that's the single.

 

Never realized the Wall outsold Dark Side of the Moon.

 

Did he also call it hippie crap (but didn't say crap)? My dad sure did.

 

I think you may be confused. That was around the time they allowed catalog albums (albums older than 2 years old) to chart on the billboard 200. They did not change any qualifications to be the best selling album of all time.

 

Only because it was a double LP so each unit sold counted as two.

Still, The Wall was absolutely massive. Dominated rock radio for well over a year, and "Another Brick In The Wall" was a monster hit single, one of only two Top 40 US singles for the band and a #1 hit for many weeks. It was the #2 record of the year in the US, coming in second only to the decade-defining "Call Me" from Giorgio Moroder & Blondie. I think because it was essentially Floyd's swansong and the band was never able to capitalize on its mainstream commercial success it tends to be forgotten a bit, but if they'd somehow hung together as a unit they might have been one of the biggest acts of the '80s, up there with Madonna and Michael Jackson.

 

How about these?

Saturday Night Fever
Tapestry

 

FWIW, between 1978-1983, it was widely regarded that the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, with a purported 25 million copies sold, was the #1 best-selling album of all time, not Dark Side. Whether that was actually true or not I don't know, but that was the consensus belief.

When Thriller became #1, just about all media from that time reported it as having past SNF.

 

FWIW, it hasn't. The Wall has sold around 30 million copies globally, Dark Side about 40 million.

It's just that The Wall has a higher certification level (in the USA) because the RIAA counts a double-record set twice. So, e.g., the Wall has sold (shipped!) about 11.5 million USA copies, but is credited as being 23x platinum, compared to 15x platinum for Dark Side. But the latter has actually sold about 3.5 million more albums.

 

Curious omission of U2's Joshua Tree from that Top 100 list.

 

Isn't that just list for the U.S?

Here's the best selling albums worldwide: List of best-selling albums - Wikipedia

 

Is it? I didn't see anything to that effect, just the header "Top 100 Albums." I like your list better!

 

I think that's just for the U.S, but the Wiki page is for best selling albums worldwide.