AC/DC’s Back In Black was unleashed upon the world on July 25th, 1980. Nirvana’s Nevermind was released on September 24th, 1991. Both albums have been on the top sellers list for decades. And while AC/DC still outsells Nirvana when it comes to physical albums sold at somewhere around 37 million for Back In Black specifically compared to Nirvana’s 30 million, when you take into account all the other possible sales including digital downloads and streaming, not only has Nirvana passed AC/DC, but they also passed Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon, now.
From an article on Loudersound.com: “The new numbers come from data analysis company Chartmasters, who combine physical sales, digital downloads and streaming to calculate an “Equivalent Album Sales” (EAS) total, which also includes sales of singles and songs from those albums that have also appeared on compilations and greatest hits packages."
Here’s a list of Chartmasters Top 10 and click this link to see a full top 100 list, too.
- Michael Jackson - Thriller (EAS 131,253,000)
- Eagles - Hotel California (74,695,000)
- Bee Gees & Various Artists - Saturday Night Fever OST (73,267,000)
- Fleetwood Mac - Rumours (73,108,000)
- Michael Jackson - Bad (70,196,000)
- Nirvana - Nevermind (66,832,000)
- AC/DC - Back in Black (66,831,000)
- Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon (63,623,000)
- The Beatles - Abbey Road (61,075,000)
- Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV (60,696,000)
