Talk:List of best-selling albums in the United States/Archive 3

Eagles greatest hits copies sold
I’m confused why it says it has sold 17 million copies when it has been certified 38 times Bob3458 (talk) 21:48, 24 August 2018 (UTC)


 * Their Greatest Hits 1971–1975 and Thriller have, at different times, been the highest-certified album by the RIAA. Every time the Eagles regain the top spot Michael Jackson fans lose their minds and this has led to a bizarre conspiracy theory that the RIAA is inflating the Eagles’ sales in order to outpace Jackson’s.


 * This bizarro world scenario is based on complete ignorance of what RIAA certifications represent or don't represent. The first misconception is that intermittent certifications represent a running tally of an album's sales—that is not the case, especially for pre-platinum and pre-multi-platinum releases where documentation of decades-old sales are difficult or even impossible to locate. In this case, the 12x platinum certification Their Greatest Hits in 1990 may not have represented all sales to date. And the additional 10 million units certified in 1995 doesn't necessarily represent sales since 1990, they could have come from any point in the album's history. So why no multi-platinum award for the album until 1990? The multi-platinum award wasn't instituted until 1984, by which time the Eagles were a defunct group who were pursuing solo careers. There would have been no incentive for anyone to apply for awards at that point. So why 1990? By then the CD boom was under way and record companies were getting a big boost from catalog sales and there was renewed marketing interest in "evergreen" artists such as the Beatles, the Eagles, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, all of whom got their first multi-platinum awards for their classic albums in 1990-91. Why 1995? The Eagles had reunited and were on their first tour since 1979 and it was time to tout their greatest hits. These awards are, after all, primarily marketing tools. The unusual certification history of Their Greatest Hits can be witnessed with other albums or artists. For instance, assuming a "running tally" would indicate that Led Zeppelin IV sold one million copies over a six month period then sold one million more over the next six years. The Elvis Presley catalog is another example of certifications coming at various points in time decades after the sales occurred. Elvis' total album certifications went from 102 million in 2002 to 117.5 million in 2004. Did he sell 15.5 million albums in 2002-04? Of course not. Did he sell 49 million albums from 1999 to 2011 as the certification level indicates? No, most of these sales occurred long ago, they are only recently being documented and the awards applied for.


 * Other classic albums could be very close to or even surpassed Thriller and Their Greatest Hits in sales except that it appears that the Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd have essentially dropped out of the awards race, leaving their most popular albums with certifications that are 12, 17, even 20 years old now. Piriczki (talk) 16:41, 25 August 2018 (UTC)


 * I’m confused, why is 38 million certified units referenced by a blog that doesn't meet Wikipedia standards for reliable sources and doesn't mention anything about 38 million certified units? Does someone want to promote a fringe theory by using references to insert an inappropriate external link into Wikipedia? Just wondering. Piriczki (talk) 00:10, 29 August 2018 (UTC)


 * This is spot-on analysis, Piriczki. I don't know what to do about the constant wrong numbers Cramoss14 uses for 'Their Greatest Hits.' This person is using a synthesis of Soundscan sales figures and RIAA certification prior to 1991 as basis for his unfounded and unsourced 17 million in sales. This person is essentially making up the total sales figures of the album, since nobody will ever know how many copies of the album have been sold. Other than reverting these annoying and incorrect edits, what else can be done? StyrofoamChicken (talk) 20:16, 30 August 2018 (UTC)

Whitney album
Whitney Houston's album "Whitney" sold almost 9.000.000 copies in the u.s. but is missing from the list — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:587:5819:A300:5CE5:A9A9:C150:CC98 (talk) 12:26, 24 October 2020 (UTC)

Madonna
The list is missing few Madonna albums. Her debut and Like a Prayer are certified 4x and 5x platinum respectively Johnny Gnecco (talk) 22:49, 13 June 2022 (UTC)
 * No. The section of "Fewer than 10 million copies" is for albums with a 10× Platinum certification but with actual sales less than the 10M-equivalent of their certifications. --Apoxyomenus (talk) 02:51, 14 June 2022 (UTC)

Thriller
Recent edits moved the number of units sold from 34M to 110M; I cannot find any source to confirm--should this be reverted? Zanfar (talk) 01:10, 3 February 2023 (UTC)

Evanescence
Evanescence album Fallen has been certified Diamond which I've tried to add to the 10 million+ list but messed up the formula if someone could correct. I do apologise Kylemeatsix (talk) 04:54, 4 March 2023 (UTC)

Michael Jackson's Dangerous album missing. Has sold 8 million in USA.
I noticed that Michael Jackson’s Dangerous album is not listed in on this page.

According to this Wikipedia page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dangerous_(Michael_Jackson_album), Michael Jackson’s Dangerous album is certified as having sold 8 million copies in the USA.

Therefore it should be listed in the Best Selling albums in the United States.

Can you please update the Wiki page so it reflects correct info. 202.125.43.92 (talk) 12:17, 28 April 2023 (UTC)


 * List include only albums certified Diamond (+10 million) by RIAA. --Apoxyomenus (talk) 19:15, 29 April 2023 (UTC)

Tina Turner
Private dancer 8,000,000 49.181.191.69 (talk) 11:53, 4 October 2023 (UTC)

Article name
It's not "List of best-selling albums in the United States". It's "Highest-certified RIAA albums". Those are two very different things. 197.87.143.217 (talk) 11:56, 8 November 2023 (UTC)