I had a look at the top 30 best-selling albums of all time, according to the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America). I wanted to see how many I had — and pass judgment on the others. While the RIAA is specifically related to the States, there are nearly 40 similar organizations worldwide In Canada we have Music Canada. It’s kind of like an annual census for music sales. In order for the RIAA to include a release in its analysis, the album must be at least 15 minutes long and have been available for a month.
Incidentally, albums which have been released since 2016 not only include physical sales, but digital downloads. This is significant. Just look at the RIAA‘s numbers regarding The Eagles Greatest Hits. When the sales were analyzed in 2008, it showed the album had gone 29x platinum (29 million copies). By the time the RIAA checked the numbers again in 2018 — now including digital sales — the album was up to 38x platinum (38 million copies). While analysis of physical sales begins a month after release, analysis of digital sales begins at the release date.
And no, these numbers don’t reflect resales, like on Discogs. The popular resale site has its own lists of the most-collected and most-wanted albums. It’s fun to compare them to the RIAA figures, and we’ll do that in a little bit.
Of the top 30 best-selling RIAA-certified albums, only eight are in my own collection. Those are Back In Black (No. 2), Dark Side Of The Moon (No. 4), Rumours (No. 10), Led Zeppelin IV (No. 12), Brothers In Arms (No. 25), The Wall (No. 28), Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (No. 29) and Abbey Road (No. 30).
So, what are the ones I’m missing? Well, there are three tainted Michael Jackson albums (No. 1, No. No. 5 and No. 13). The hated Hotel California (No. 8) and Eagles Greatest Hits (No. 6). The needless soundtracks for The Bodyguard (No. 3) and Dirty Dancing (No. 15). The bombastic Bat Out of Hell (No. 7), which I never really need to hear again — ditto Saturday Night Fever (No. 11) and Born In The U.S.A. (No. 23). I maxed out on those years ago.
From Canada, there are two Celine Dion albums (No. 16 and No. 20), as well as Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill (No. 14) and Shania Twain’s Come On Over (No. 9). Not my jam, these. Neither are Adele‘s 21 (No. 30) and Santana’s Supernatural (No. 27). I really like the first four Santana albums, but that’s it.
Then there’s a bunch of greatest-hits packages, which I don’t normally reach for — I prefer studio albums to compilations, usually. The Beatles 1 (No. 18) is there — I have all their albums, so I don’t really require it. Legend (No. 21) by Bob Marley & The Wailers is there — I’m more of a King Tubby and Lee (Scratch) Perry guy. ABBA Gold (No. 24) and Madonna’s Immaculate Collection (No. 26) are also on the list.
It basically boils down to two albums which are on the list, but not in my collection — and that I would perhaps welcome into my world. Those are the Guns N’ Roses debut Appetite For Destruction (No. 22) and Metallica’s self-titled black album (No. 19). Both of those are seriously encroaching on Bat Out Of Hell territory.
So, I stand by my choices. Here’s the list in order of my own personal preference…
Ones I like in descending order:
The Beatles | Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (No. 29)
Pink Floyd | The Dark Side Of The Moon (No. 4)
Led Zeppelin | Untitled/IV (No. 12)
The Beatles | Abbey Road (No. 30)
The Beatles | 1 (No. 18)
Fleetwood Mac | Rumours (No. 10)
AC/DC | Back In Black (No. 2)
Pink Floyd | The Wall (No. 28)
Dire Straits | Brothers In Arms (No. 25)
Guns N’ Roses | Appetite For Destruction (No. 22)
Bruce Springsteen | Born In The U.S.A. (No. 23)
Bob Marley & The Wailers | Legend (No. 21)
Madonna | The Immaculate Collection (No. 26)
Meat Loaf | Bat Out Of Hell (No. 7)
The Bee Gees | Saturday Night Fever (No. 11)
Metallica | Metallica (No. 19)
The rest, I don’t really want at all. I can’t even be bothered to rank them. They’re rank enough as it is.
And for comparison, here’s a list of the 30 most-collected albums among Discogs’ nearly 700,000 users. Some albums are on here twice because Discogs users not only want a particular album, but in many cases they’re looking for a specific pressing of that album. For example, I have three different pressings of The Dark Side Of The Moon — the 50th anniversary box, a 2016 re-release and a 1974 U.K. quadraphonic copy. The popularity and desirability of albums changes often based on a bunch of factors like new remasters, expanded editions, breakups, death, etc.
Discogs’ 30 most-collected titles:
Daft Punk | Random Access Memories
Pink Floyd | The Dark Side Of The Moon (three different pressings on this list — No. 2, No. 8 and No. 23)
Kendrick Lamar | Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City
Michael Jackson | Thriller (two different pressings — No. 4 and No. 17)
Fleetwood Mac | Rumours
Nirvana | Nevermind
Arctic Monkeys | AM (two different pressings on this list — No. 7 and No. 26)
Taylor Swift | Lover
Massive Attack | Mezzanine
Taylor Swift | Reputation
Prince & The Revolution | Purple Rain
David Bowie | The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars
Neil Young | Harvest
Tyler, The Creator | Igor
Jack White | Lazaretto
Eagles | Hotel California
Bruce Springsteen | Born In The U.S.A.
Kanye West | My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Oasis | (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?
Dire Straits | Brothers In Arms
The Cars | The Cars
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young | Deja Vu
Supertramp | Breakfast In America
The Smiths | The Queen Is Dead
Simon and Garfunkel | Bridge Over Troubled Water
Pink Floyd | Wish You Were Here
Interestingly enough, only six of these albums are on the RIAA list. Unlike the other list, I personally own 17 of these. Also unlike the RIAA list, there aren’t any bad albums on here. I mean — I don’t care for Eagles or Arctic Monkeys, but they’re not bad records.
If you’ve ever thought about selling your records, Discogs is a great place to look. The first thing you’ll want to find out, though, is which records people want rather than which records they have. Here are Discogs’ top 30 most-wanted albums, according to the number of users who have these albums on their personal want lists.
Discogs’ 30 most-wanted titles:
Daft Punk | Random Access Memories
Kanye West | My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Daft Punk | Discovery
Kendrick Lamar | Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City
Doom & Madlib | Madvillainy
Wu-Tang Clan | Enter The Wu-Tang
Pink Floyd | The Dark Side Of The Moon (on the list twice — No. 7 and No. 17)
Frank Ocean | Blond
Pink Floyd | Wish You Were Here
Gorillaz | Demon Days
Radiohead | OK Computer
Radiohead | In Rainbows
Kendrick Lamar | To Pimp A Butterfly
David Bowie | The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars
Michael Jackson | Thriller
Stardust | Music Sounds Better With You
Prince & The Revolution | Purple Rain
Taylor Swift | Lover (Live From Paris)
Black Sabbath | Paranoid
Kanye West | The College Dropout
The Clash | London Calling
Daft Punk | Homework
Herbie Hancock | Head Hunters
Fleetwood Mac | Rumours
Taylor Swift | Reputation
Nirvana | Nevermind
Tatsuro Yamashita | For You
Pink Floyd | The Wall
Taylor Swift | Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions
Clearly, Daft Punk, Swift, Kanye, Radiohead, Lamar and Pink Floyd own this list, responsible for 16 of the 30 entries. You’ll find 12 of them in my own collection.
Cards on the table, let’s examine my own collection. I have everything catalogued, so I’m able to list my albums in order of their popularity among Discogs users. It currently goes like this:
My most-collected albums among Discogs users:
Daft Punk | Random Access Memories
Pink Floyd | The Dark Side Of The Moon
Fleetwood Mac | Rumours
Prince & The Revolution | Purple Rain
David Bowie | The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars
Neil Young | Harvest
Tyler, The Creator | Igor
Jack White | Lazaretto
Dire Straits | Brothers In Arms
The Cars | The Cars
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young | Deja Vu
Supertramp | Breakfast In America
Simon and Garfunkel | Bridge Over Troubled Water
Pink Floyd | Wish You Were Here (two different pressings, Nos. 14 and 16)
Bon Iver | For Emma, Forever Ago
Pink Floyd | The Wall
Carole King | Tapestry
Amy Winehouse | Back To Black
David Bowie | Hunky Dory
The War On Drugs | Lost In The Dream
Led Zeppelin | Led Zeppelin III
Dr. Dre | The Chronic
The Beatles | Let It Be
The Beatles | Magical Mystery Tour
Led Zeppelin | IV/Untitled
Johnny Cash | At San Quentin
Metallica | Ride The Lightning
Doom and Madlib | Madvillainy
Neutral Milk Hotel | In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
Like I said, this list changes all the time. For example, there’s no way Led Zeppelin III is the most-collected album in their catalog. But it is right now. So, hat’s off!
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Area Resident is an Ottawa-based journalist, recording artist, music collector and re-seller. Hear (and buy) his music on Bandcamp, email him HERE, follow him on Instagram and check him out on Discogs.
