I did a study of 'evergreen' albums once, i.e. albums that continued to sell over the years, and everything listed here was way up there too. Mine wasn't a poll, it was a purely mechanical calculation of number of platinum certifications multiplied by the number of years out there- to deal with the way the business took to pumping stuff into the channel. My numbers for those were:
594: The Beatles - The Beatles (white album)
494: Thriller - Michael Jackson
432: Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
374: Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles
352: Abbey Road - The Beatles
186: Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon and Garfunkel
175: Revolver - The Beatles
156: Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
140: The Joshua Tree - U2 (above)
(n/a): A Night At The Opera - Queen (wasn't in RIAA database!?!)
Here's what my Top 40 was. Notice an important difference?
675 Eagles, Eagles Greatest Hits
660 Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin IV
594 The Beatles, The Beatles (White Album)
506 Pink Floyd, The Wall
494 Michael Jackson, Thriller
432 Fleetwood Mac, Rumours
420 The Beatles, The Beatles 1967-1970
420 Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon
405 Elton John, Greatest Hits
400 Boston, Boston
399 AC/DC, Back In Black
392 The Beatles, The Beatles 1962-1966
390 Led Zeppelin, Physical Graffiti
384 Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin II
375 Eagles, Hotel California
374 The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
360 Bee Gees, Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack
352 The Beatles, Abbey Road
336 Billy Joel, Greatest Hits Volume I & Volume II
324 Various, Great Band Era
324 Journey, Frontiers
312 Meat Loaf, Bat Out Of Hell
308 Led Zeppelin, Houses Of The Holy
300 Carole King, Tapestry
290 Simon & Garfunkel, Simon & Garfunkel's Greatest Hits
275 James Taylor, James Taylor's Greatest Hits
258 Elvis Presley, Elvis's Golden Records, Volume 1
256 Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin I
255 Bruce Springsteen, Born In The U.S.A.
252 Patsy Cline, Greatest Hits
252 Kenny Rogers, Kenny Rogers' Greatest Hits
250 Doobie Brothers, Best Of The Doobies
230 Van Halen, Van Halen
221 Prince & The Revolution, Purple Rain Soundtrack
217 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Deja Vu
216 The Beatles, Rubber Soul
216 Billy Joel, The Stranger
215 Johnny Mathis, Merry Christmas
210 Guns'N Roses, Appetite For Destruction
208 Whitney Houston, Whitney Houston
Mine has AC/DC and Led Zeppelin!
(not to mention GnR and Van Halen)
Heavy music. It's what's for dinner.
And the thing is, Led Zep 4 outpulled everything on their list as far as sustained sales volume went, even though there's a lot of correlation. I really can't see Thriller being more significant than Zep 4, so to me this is a silly oversight.
Discuss