Robert Safuto

And now for something completely diversionary. I was recently perusing the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) website and came across their list of Top 100 Albums sold within the United States. It was in a very unfriendly format so I decided to port it over to Google Docs so I could take a closer look.

One of the more interesting discoveries was that there are actually over 400 albums in the top 100 since there are many albums that have sold approximately the same amount of copies which leads to another interesting discovery. It appears that an album which has sold 3 million copies on the nose, for example, would be equally ranked with an album that sold 3.99 million copies since things are ranked at the level of millions.

Also of note is the fact that an album currently needs to sell at least 5 million copies in order to make the list. The Eagles Greatest Hits album tops the list with 29 million sold. Thriller by Michael Jackson is second with 28 million sold. I'd be willing to bet that Thriller regains the top spot in the wake of the recent Michael Jackson hysteria. Peruse the list embedded below and see what interesting info you find.

You can see the whole spreadsheet for yourself on Google Docs here.

Update on Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 9:43PM by Robert Safuto

Wouldn't you know it. Since I compiled this data a couple of weeks ago Michael Jackson's Thriller has indeed caught up with The Eagles and they are now tied for the #1 US album of all time with 29 million sold.