Once upon a time, people no longer use discs, cassettes, or vinyl records, preferring to listen to music on the Internet. And only the most avid fans get copies on physical media, because this way you can support the artist and perpetuate the memory of the next purchased album. So, this is the ranking of the best-selling albums in the history of mankind, let's go!
THRILLER - Michael Jackson
Of course, the first place in our top is a record from pop king Michael Jackson. Thriller is the best-selling album in the world, bought by about 110 million people. Can you imagine that every 60th person currently living on Earth has a copy of this record?
Critics even before the release noted that Michael Jackson is the best singer in the genre of pop music, and “King” soon lived up to his status. Probably, even at this moment in the world there is no person who has never heard a single song by Michael Jackson. Thriller is considered a classic of the genre, and it still remains the best-selling album, largely because even after the death of the legend, it still has a sea of fans and imitators. What is only the patented "moonwalk" worth.
Songs of Michael Jackson and today are used as soundtracks for Hollywood films. In fact, the pop king created a cult, popularizing pop music all over the world. Thriller will forever remain the benchmark among listeners.
BACK IN BLACK - AC / DC
Following the king of pop, the best rock musicians of all time AC / DC burst into the top! The famous group is still active, despite the fact that most of her albums were recorded back in the 80s. Back In Black's best-selling album has a very unusual story.
Take a look at the cover - minimalistic style and mournful black color. The thing is that during the recording of this album, the singer and frontman of the band Bon Scott died, so the album was released when the group already included a new vocalist - Brian Johnson. Actually, Back in Black was ultimately fully dedicated to the deceased frontman. The name translates as "Return in Mourning", as if hinting that the group is not going to break up.
The release was not planned as commercial, and the group did not show any hope of getting a lot of money for it. However, only a few months after the start of sales, critics called it the best album of the year, and then the best-selling rock music album. Thus, AC / DC several times re-released already on new media, and the album Back In Black can still be found in music stores today.
THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON - Pink Floyd
The famous Pink Floyd album cover is familiar to every music connoisseur. Top-selling albums cannot boast of sales speed for the first year after release, except for Dark Side of the Moon. Pink Floyd was very popular even before the release due to the unusual sound and performance of their songs.
The genre in which these musicians perform is extremely ambiguous, however, many rock publications define their music as experimental or progressive rock. The songs use about a dozen instruments, and each subsequent album is fundamentally different from the previous one.
Dark Side of the Moon shot, its sales skyrocketed immediately after release, but even after that it was not one of the top ten best-selling albums in the world. The album began to acquire further sales after the group announced that it would not play this album at performances.
Only 25 years after the release you can hear compositions from it during live performances. Among the fans all these years, of course, there was a struggle for a record in stores. It’s a very interesting marketing move, because today Pink Floyd’s shows are mainly due to this album. However, the list of the best-selling albums in the entire history of music can not be got just like that, Pink Floyd is the best group playing experimental music to this day.
THEIR GREATEST HITS - Eagles
Eagles - the founders of such a direction as soft rock and country rock. It will not be entirely correct to call the disc presented above the best-selling music album, because it is not an album at all. This is a kind of collection of the best hits for the entire existence of the group. Nevertheless, this team has so many fans that this collection has gathered about 42 million customers.
Eagles still perform, but tickets for their concerts are very expensive, it’s almost impossible to get to a live performance. Most likely, even if you are not familiar with the compositions from this collection, you definitely heard them in films or commercials.
Country rock today is not very popular, especially among the Russian listener, but in the west this genre has numerous armies of fans, both among young people and among very elderly personalities. Eagles also ended up in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for making a tremendous contribution to the development of rock culture in general.
METALLICA - Metallica
The best-selling album among all metal bands. Metallica needs no introduction, Metallica and metal are synonyms. This album symbolizes all the zeal for a tougher and more aggressive sound, which is quoted today. Metallica became the prototype of a new era in rock music - no one before them used electric guitars to express such a fast rhythm and bone-crushing sound.
This album has sold 30 million copies, and among true metallers it is almost a relic. Another name for the album is The Black Album. And although this is far from their first release, all the most high-profile hits of the team got here. In the first week of the start of sales alone, 650,000 copies were purchased on all kinds of media.
You can absolutely say that the influence of Metallica is priceless. Today rock and rap are popular, rock is known for its Metallica and the first thrash metal wave bands. And this album, together with this, symbolizes the diversity and unquenchable popularity of this group. This is the best-selling album of all time among metal bands.
HYBRID THEORY - Linkin Park
Now it is worth mentioning the music school of modern times. Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory album has 20 million sales ... In 18 years! It is rightfully the best-selling album in the world since the beginning of the 21st century. While the same Dark Side of The Moon was released back in 73 and gathered twice as many buyers, Linkin Park's album is considered to be essentially the leading one in sales in such a short time. This is the first rock band to perform their music in a very unusual genre - rap rock. However, many critics attribute the style of the group to alternative, progressive rock or nu metal. Not only is Hybrid Theory a debut album of the group, performing in an ambiguous, completely new genre is not an easy task, which is why Linkin Park today closes our top.
Unfortunately, in 2017, vocalist and frontman of the band Chester Bennington died. For the other members of the group, this news was a shock, because they had planned an international tour. Concerts were canceled, and fans for a long time believed that Linkin Park will no longer perform, because Chester was a key figure in the team. However, six months later, the group gave a concert, and after it, in an interview, other members stated that Linkin Park would not break up.
Sales Status Today
Today, physical media do not have the same value as, for example, as early as 30 years ago, due to the development of the Internet and wireless communications. Disks and records today are more likely to play a decorative character and are popular only among loyal fans of groups. Statistics indicate that over the past 10 years (at the time of writing the article - 2018), album sales on Itunes or Spotify Internet resources are several times higher than sales of physical copies. Plus, many compositions of famous bands are now available for listening for free, which reduces the purchase of albums to nothing.
Conclusion
Despite the irrelevance of buying physical copies of albums, the number of sales symbolizes the scale of popularity and quality of music sold bestsellers. It is safe to say that upon the release of a new interesting album, millions of people will buy it. Also in contrast to the discs today put online album stores, where they are actively buying up. Counting these numbers forms charts and ratings, where the best-selling music album in the world is widely covered in the media or on the Internet.
Support your favorite bands, buy their albums and listen to the right music!