There was quite a surprise last week from the group that measures music sales: Michael Jackson’s legendary “Thriller” is no longer the biggest-selling album in history.
The new top seller, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, is from a very famous band, but not one you’d guess if this were a trivia contest question. It’s the Eagles, whose 1971-75 greatest hits compilation now measures sales of 38 million copies.
“Thriller” has sold 33 million, and another album by the Eagles — easily their most famous one, “Hotel California” — is in third place at 29 million in sales.
There is a giant asterisk to all these sales figures. In 2013, the RIAA began equating music use on digital services with album sales. Today, 1,500 streams of an album equal one record sale, and 10 song downloads also equal one sale.
Greenwood Commonwealth
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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