Top 100 Certified Albums in the United States

Look at the cassette, ain't it cute?

I used to believe that Michael Jackson's Thriller was the most sold album ever. Globally speaking, maybe it is. In the US, though, according to RIAA website, Thriller is "only" #2, behind Eagles' Greatest Hits. They both got a 29x diamond certification, but Eagles' anthology appears as #1 in the Top 100 Certified Albums list. I have not a scientific knowledge of the relation between RIAA certifications and units actually shipped (it seems it's a tricky one), so I could have interpreted the RIAA data wrongly. Anyway, I think it's an interesting list. 

By browsing it, you discover that The Beatles have six albums in the Top 100, but most of them are anthologies. That Garth Brooks is very very very very huge in the US (while here in my little Italy I suspect most people barely know him). That Hootie & The Blowfish sold a crazy amount of copies of Cracked Rear View, even crazier than those sold by Alanis Morrissette's Jagged Little Pill. That Led Zeppelin second most certified album is Physical Graffiti. That Pearl Jam's Ten likely sold more than Nirvana's Nevermind, and AC/DC's Back in Black more than Metallica's black album. That just one album from the 2010s rolled from the deep to get the Top 100. 

You can go on checkin' the chart (for millennials in search of Katy Perry, Rihanna and Taylor Swift, better call the digital sales page). And in the playlist below you can listen to all the albums I found on Spotify. No Beatles, as usual. No Garth Brooks (my Italian ignorance will go on). No Def Leppard, Matchbox Twenty, Creed and Kid Rock. Enjoy the rest!

Previously on the US side of Spotirama:

50 Shades of United States

Billboard #1 Alternative Rock Hits (in the US) from 1988 to 2014

NY Magazine Brooklyn Top 40

TOP 100 CERTIFIED ALBUMS IN THE US

(RIAA Top 100 Certified Albums, from #1 to #100)

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Full list

Strikethrough albums (16/100) are not available on Spotify. Italics anthologies are not available but I "re-built" them taking the songs from other albums. Some albums may be not available in all countries.

1. Eagles - Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 (29x platinum certifications)
2. Michael Jackson - Thriller (29)
3. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV (23)
4. Pink Floyd - The Wall (23)
5. Billy Joel - Greatest Hits vol.1 & vol.2 (23)
6. AC/DC - Back In Black (22)
7. Garth Brooks - Double Live (21)
8. Shania Twain - Come On Over (20)
9. The Beatles - The Beatles (19)
10. Fleetwood Mac - Rumours (19)
11. Guns n'Roses - Appetite For Destruction (18)
12. Boston - Boston (17)
13. AA.VV. - The Bodyguard (Soundtrack) (17)
14. Garth Brooks - No Fences (17)
15. The Beatles - The Beatles 1967-1970 (17)
16. Eagles - Hotel California (16)
17. Metallica - Metallica (16)
18. Hootie & The Blowfish - Cracked Rear View (16)
19. Elton John - Greatest Hits (16)
20. Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti (16)
21. Alanis Morrissette - Jagged Little Pill (16)
22. Santana - Supernatural (15)
23. The Beatles - The Beatles 1962-66 (15)
24. Journey - Greatest Hits (15)
25. AA.VV. - Saturday Night Fever (Soundtrack) (15)
26. Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA (15)
27. Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon (15)
28. Bob Marley & The Wailers - Legend (15)
29. Garth Brooks - Ropin' the Wind (15)
30. Meatloaf - Bat Out of Hell (14)
31. Simon & Garfunkel - Greatest Hits (14)
32. Britney Spears - ... Baby One More Time (14)
33. Backstreet Boys - Backstreet Boys (14)
34. Pearl Jam - Ten (13)
35. Whitney Houston - Whitney Houston (13)
36. Prince - Purple Rain (Soundtrack) (13)
37. Bruce Springsteen - Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band Live 1975-1985 (13)
38. Backstreet Boys - Millennium (13)
39. Steve Miller Band - Greatest Hits 1974-1978 (13)
40. Boyz II Men - II (12)
41. Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet (12)
42. Shania Twain - The Woman In Me (12)
43. Kenny G - Breathless (12)
44. Dixie Chicks - Wide Open Spaces (12)
45. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II (12)
46. The Rolling Stones - Hot Rocks (12)
47. The Beatles - Abbey Road (12)
48. Kenny Rogers - Greatest Hits (12)
49. AA.VV. - Forrest Gump (Soundrack) (12)
50. Jewel - Pieces of You (12)
51. Def Leppard - Hysteria (12)
52. Phil Collins - No Jacket Required (12)
53. Matchbox Twenty - Yourself or Someone Like You (12)
54. James Taylor - Greatest Hits (11)
55. Eagles - Greatest Hits vol. 2 (11)
56. AA.VV. - Dirty Dancing (Soundtrack) (11)
57. Outkast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (11)
58. AA.VV. - Titanic (Soundtrack) (11)
59. Celine Dion - Falling Into You (11)
60. TLC - Crazysexycool (11)
61. Shania Twain - Up! (11)
62. Aerosmith - Greatest Hits (11)
63. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (11)
64. Creed - Human Clay (11)
65. Kid Rock - Devil Without a Cause (11)
66. Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy (11)
67. 'N Sync - No Strings Attached (11)
68. The Beatles - 1 (11)
69. Van Halen - 1984 (10)
70. Garth Brooks - Garth Brooks (10)
71. Madonna - Like a Virgin (10)
72. Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life (10)
73. Nirvana - Nevermind (10)
74. Lionel Richie - Can't Slow Down (10)
75. Madonna - The Immaculate Collection (10)
76. Patsy Cline - Greatest Hits (10)
77. No Doubt - Tragic Kingdom (10)
78. Def Leppard - Pyromania (10)
79. Adele - 21 (10)
80. Eminem - The Eminem Show (10)
81. Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP (10)
82. George Michael - Faith (10)
83. Doobie Brothers - Best of the Doobies (10)
84. 'N Sync - 'N Sync (10)
85. Britney Spears - Oops!... I Did It Again (10)
86. Dixie Chicks - Fly (10)
87. Carole King - Tapestry (10)
88. Billy Joel - The Stranger (10)
89. The Doors - The Best of the Doors (10)
90. Celine Dion - Let's Talk About Love (10)
91. AA.VV. - The Lion King (Soundtrack) (10)
92. Eric Clapton - Unplugged (10)
93. Elvis Presley - Elvis' Christmas Album (10)
94. 2 Pac - All Eyez On Me (10)
95. Garth Brooks - The Hits (10)
96. Mariah Carey - Daydream (10)
97. U2 - The Joshua Tree (10)
98. ZZ Top - Eliminator (10)
99. Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (10)
100. 2 Pac - Greatest Hits (10)