Best-selling album in the USA

According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 by the Eagles (USA) has been certified for 40 million copies sold and streamed, as announced on 22 January 2026. The country-rock band’s hit-packed 1976 compilation is the first-ever album to be RIAA-certified “quadruple Diamond”.

Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 claimed the best-selling US album accolade from Michael Jackson’s now-34x-platinum Thriller on 20 August 2018 after its multi-platinum status was updated for the first time since 2006.

The set was originally released on 17 February 1976. To mark its 50th anniversary, a crystal-clear 180-gram vinyl edition will be available in 2026.

Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 spent five non-consecutive weeks at No.1 on the Billboard 200 in 1976 and has racked up 514 chart weeks as of 24 January 2026. It features “Take It Easy”, “Witchy Woman”, “Lyin’ Eyes”, “Already Gone”, “Desperado”, “Tequila Sunrise”, “Take It to the Limit”, “Peaceful Easy Feeling” and two US No.1 singles: “One of These Nights” and “Best of My Love”.

In 2017, the album was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for its “cultural, artistic and historical importance to American society and the nation’s audio heritage”.

The RIAA also confirmed the Eagles’ Hotel California (1976) as the third-best-selling album in the USA (28x platinum), ahead of AC/DC’s Back in Black (27x platinum) in fourth. Completing the top 10 are albums by Led Zeppelin (Led Zeppelin IV), The Beatles (The Beatles, aka The White Album), Billy Joel (Greatest Hits: Volume I & Volume II), Garth Brooks (Double Live), Pink Floyd (The Wall) and Hootie & The Blowfish (Cracked Rear View).

The Eagles – founded by Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner, and later featuring Don Felder (who joined the aforementioned quartet on Their Greatest Hits), Timothy B Schmidt and Joe Walsh – were the best-selling American band of the 1970s and have reportedly shifted more than 150 million albums worldwide. They were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.