# List of best-selling albums in the United States
The best-selling albums in the United States are ranked by certifications from the [Recording Industry Association of America](https://www.edgepedia.org/recording-industry-association-of-america) (RIAA), whose Gold & Platinum program awards thresholds of cumulative album-equivalent units sold and streamed in the US. The all-time leader is the Eagles' compilation *Their Greatest Hits 1971–1975*, certified for 40 million units on 22 January 2026 as the first album ever to reach quadruple Diamond status.[1](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/115615-best-selling-album-in-the-usa)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| No. 1 album | Eagles, *Their Greatest Hits 1971–1975*: 40 million certified units, first quadruple Diamond certification, announced 22 January 2026[1](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/115615-best-selling-album-in-the-usa) |
| No. 2 and No. 3 | Michael Jackson's *Thriller* (34x Platinum, certified 2021) and the Eagles' *Hotel California* (28x Platinum)[2](https://apnews.com/article/1c3ae1afad6247d975f7e853e56f9709) |
| Certification tiers | Gold 500,000 units; Platinum 1,000,000; Multi-Platinum 2,000,000 and up in million-unit steps; Diamond 10,000,000 and up[3](https://www.riaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/ALBUM-AWARD-RIAA-AND-GRF-CERTIFICATION-AUDIT-REQUIREMENTS.pdf) |
| Unit definition | One physical or permanent digital album sale equals one unit; 10 permanent track downloads or 1,500 on-demand audio and/or video streams from the album also equal one unit[3](https://www.riaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/ALBUM-AWARD-RIAA-AND-GRF-CERTIFICATION-AUDIT-REQUIREMENTS.pdf) |
| First Platinum album | *Their Greatest Hits 1971–1975* became the RIAA's first Platinum Album when the Platinum award was introduced in 1976[4](https://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinum60/) |
| Top SoundScan-era seller | Metallica's self-titled 1991 album led Nielsen SoundScan's era tally at 15,620,000 copies as of 2011[5](https://www.shaniasupersite.com/shania_news_undercover010711.html) |
| Best 21st-century seller | Adele's *21*, with 14 million copies sold in the United States[6](https://bestsellingalbums.org/list-of-best-selling-albums-in-united-states-of-america) |
## How the ranking is measured
The list is built from RIAA Gold & Platinum certifications rather than from a running sales ledger. A certification is a threshold a release passed on a date, verified in an audit conducted for a fee by the accounting firm Gelfand, Rennert and Feldman; the record label must apply for the certification and supply sales and streaming reports.[3](https://www.riaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/ALBUM-AWARD-RIAA-AND-GRF-CERTIFICATION-AUDIT-REQUIREMENTS.pdf) Only domestic sales and sales to US military post exchanges count; exports are excluded.[3](https://www.riaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/ALBUM-AWARD-RIAA-AND-GRF-CERTIFICATION-AUDIT-REQUIREMENTS.pdf)
Streaming changed what a certified unit means. The RIAA began incorporating streaming from services such as YouTube and Spotify into certification in 2013, and from February 2016 the album award formula counts 1,500 on-demand audio or video streams, or 10 permanent track downloads, as one album unit.[2](https://apnews.com/article/1c3ae1afad6247d975f7e853e56f9709) • [3](https://www.riaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/ALBUM-AWARD-RIAA-AND-GRF-CERTIFICATION-AUDIT-REQUIREMENTS.pdf) Because certifications are cumulative and older titles keep accumulating streaming activity, positions on the list can change when a label requests a re-certification.[7](https://allthetopten.com/top-10-best-selling-albums-in-the-us-riaa-certified/)
## The leaders
*Their Greatest Hits 1971–1975*, released 17 February 1976, drew its track list from the band's first four studio albums and spent five non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the [Billboard](https://www.edgepedia.org/billboard-magazine) 200 in 1976; it had logged 514 chart weeks as of 24 January 2026 and was added to the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry in 2017.[1](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/115615-best-selling-album-in-the-usa) It was the first album ever certified Platinum by the RIAA, and on 20 August 2018 it claimed the best-selling US album accolade from [Michael Jackson](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-jackson)'s *Thriller* when its multi-platinum status was updated for the first time since 2006.[4](https://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinum60/) • [1](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/115615-best-selling-album-in-the-usa)
**The rest of the top tier** is dominated by 1970s and 1980s releases. Behind *Thriller* (34x Platinum) and *Hotel California* (28x Platinum) sits AC/DC's *Back in Black* at 27x Platinum, followed by [Led Zeppelin IV](https://www.edgepedia.org/led-zeppelin-iv), [The Beatles](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-beatles-album) (the White Album), Billy Joel's *Greatest Hits: Volume I & Volume II*, Garth Brooks' *Double Live*, Pink Floyd's *The Wall*, and Hootie & The Blowfish's *[Cracked Rear View](https://www.edgepedia.org/cracked-rear-view)*.[2](https://apnews.com/article/1c3ae1afad6247d975f7e853e56f9709) • [1](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/115615-best-selling-album-in-the-usa) A ranking of certified units as of June 2026 notes that classic rock still leads the all-time list, with only seven of the top 25 albums coming from other genres.[8](https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-best-selling-albums-in-us-history/)
By artist, [Garth Brooks](https://www.edgepedia.org/garth-brooks) holds the most RIAA-certified Diamond albums, ahead of [The Beatles](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-beatles) with six and [Led Zeppelin](https://www.edgepedia.org/led-zeppelin) with five, and in June 2026 he received the RIAA's first Artist of a Lifetime Award in recognition of 200 million certified units as the best-selling albums artist in the United States.[9](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/83337-most-diamond-albums)
## The SoundScan era and pure sales
Since 1991, Nielsen SoundScan (now Luminate) has tracked actual point-of-sale purchases, giving a second, pure-sales measure that excludes streams and track-equivalent units. SoundScan's own era top 10 as of 2011 was led by Metallica's *Metallica* (15,620,000), followed by [Shania Twain](https://www.edgepedia.org/shania-twain)'s *Come On Over* (15,487,000), [Alanis Morissette](https://www.edgepedia.org/alanis-morissette)'s *Jagged Little Pill* (14,642,000), [Backstreet Boys](https://www.edgepedia.org/backstreet-boys)' *Millennium* (12,109,000), and *The Bodyguard* soundtrack (11,815,000).[5](https://www.shaniasupersite.com/shania_news_undercover010711.html)
## Limitations of the certified figures
**Certified units are not sales counts.** A certification records a threshold passed, not a measured total, and it rises only when a label pays for an audit and requests an update; many catalogs go years between re-certifications.[3](https://www.riaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/ALBUM-AWARD-RIAA-AND-GRF-CERTIFICATION-AUDIT-REQUIREMENTS.pdf) Comparisons between the two measures show the gap can run in either direction. RIAA figures, which are based on shipments to retailers and include record-club sales, exceeded SoundScan-measured sales for Shania Twain's *Come On Over* (certified for more than 20 million against 15,487,000 scanned) and Santana's *[Supernatural](https://www.edgepedia.org/supernatural-santana-album)* (15x Platinum against 11,687,000 scanned).[5](https://www.shaniasupersite.com/shania_news_undercover010711.html) Conversely, Chris Daughtry's band debut had sold 5.04 million US copies by 2015 but was certified for 6 million in 2019, because the later certification included streaming-equivalent units.[10](https://encoreindex.com/stories/streams-certified-units-album-sales-explained) Greatest-hits audits face an added rule: only track sales and streams occurring after the compilation's release date can count toward its certification, and a track applied to a compilation is precluded from later counting toward a studio album.[3](https://www.riaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/ALBUM-AWARD-RIAA-AND-GRF-CERTIFICATION-AUDIT-REQUIREMENTS.pdf)
## References
1. [Best-selling album in the USA, Guinness World Records](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/115615-best-selling-album-in-the-usa)
2. [The Eagles' 'Greatest Hits' is the first album in US history to sell over 40M units, Associated Press](https://apnews.com/article/1c3ae1afad6247d975f7e853e56f9709)
3. [RIAA and GR&F Certification Audit Requirements: RIAA Album Award](https://www.riaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/ALBUM-AWARD-RIAA-AND-GRF-CERTIFICATION-AUDIT-REQUIREMENTS.pdf)
4. [Gold & Platinum Turns 60!, RIAA](https://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinum60/)
5. [RIAA Overstates Shania Twain and Santana Accreditations By Millions, underCover (2011)](https://www.shaniasupersite.com/shania_news_undercover010711.html)
6. [Best-selling albums in the United States of America, BestSellingAlbums.org](https://bestsellingalbums.org/list-of-best-selling-albums-in-united-states-of-america)
7. [Top 10 Best-Selling Albums in the US (RIAA Certified), AllTheTopTen](https://allthetopten.com/top-10-best-selling-albums-in-the-us-riaa-certified/)
8. [Ranked: America's Best-Selling Albums Ever, Visual Capitalist](https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-best-selling-albums-in-us-history/)
9. [Most RIAA-certified Diamond albums, Guinness World Records](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/83337-most-diamond-albums)
10. [Streams, certified units and album sales: what each number measures, Encore Index](https://encoreindex.com/stories/streams-certified-units-album-sales-explained)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Discographies and musical catalogues › Thematic song lists, charts, and media-franchise catalogs › Chart record and certification lists › Best-selling and sales record lists*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license