Posted September 14, 201212 yr According to the 2013 Guinness Book of World Records the top selling world-wide albums are, 1] 65m THRILLER Michael Jackson (1983) 2] 50m THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON Pink Floyd (1973) 3] 49m BACK IN BLACK AC/DC (1980) 4] 44m THE BODYGUARD Soundtrack (1992) 5] 43m BAT OUT OF HELL Meat Loaf (1978) 6] 42m GREATEST HITS 1971-75 The Eagles (1976) 7] 42m DIRTY DANCING Soundtrack (1987) 8] 40m SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER Soundtrack (1978) 9] 40m RUMOURS Fleetwood Mac (1977) 10] 40m COME ON OVER Shania Twain (1997) Don’t know how accurate this list is. Also this year Guinness claim that the artist with the most simultaneous hit singles in the Top 75 is the Jam with 13 tracks in February 1983. Did Elvis or Michael Jackson not have more entries at the time of their deaths? I know that The Beatles had 17 singles in the Top 75 for week ending 20th March 1976. 10 Yesterday 45 Hey Jude 46 Paperback Writer 53 Strawberry Fields Forever 55 Get Back 59 She loves you 61 Help! 62 Love Me Do 63 Yellow Submarine 64 Let It Be 66 A hard day's night 68 Can't buy me love 69 I Want To Hold Your Hand 71 All you need is love 72 From me to you 74 Hello goodbye 75 Please please me
September 14, 201212 yr According to the 2013 Guinness Book of World Records the top selling world-wide albums are, 1] 65m THRILLER Michael Jackson (1983) 2] 50m THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON Pink Floyd (1973) 3] 49m BACK IN BLACK AC/DC (1980) 4] 44m THE BODYGUARD Soundtrack (1992) 5] 43m BAT OUT OF HELL Meat Loaf (1978) 6] 42m GREATEST HITS 1971-75 The Eagles (1976) 7] 42m DIRTY DANCING Soundtrack (1987) 8] 40m SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER Soundtrack (1978) 9] 40m RUMOURS Fleetwood Mac (1977) 10] 40m COME ON OVER Shania Twain (1997) Don’t know how accurate this list is. Also this year Guinness claim that the artist with the most simultaneous hit singles in the Top 75 is the Jam with 13 tracks in February 1983. Did Elvis or Michael Jackson not have more entries at the time of their deaths? I know that The Beatles had 17 singles in the Top 75 for week ending 20th March 1976. 10 Yesterday 45 Hey Jude 46 Paperback Writer 53 Strawberry Fields Forever 55 Get Back 59 She loves you 61 Help! 62 Love Me Do 63 Yellow Submarine 64 Let It Be 66 A hard day's night 68 Can't buy me love 69 I Want To Hold Your Hand 71 All you need is love 72 From me to you 74 Hello goodbye 75 Please please me the official chart until 1978 was only Top 50, sadly, so the positions outside the chart were probably "Breakers" (records going up that hadnt charted). The Beatles and Elvis would otherwise probably hold the record... Jacko had loads on his death, but maybe they have taken it literally and just counted the solo stuff, and not Jacksons/Jackson 5, not sure. Anyone else? the albums look accurate. most album sales way back were US sales, topped up by the rest of the world, so they tend to be internationally popular albums... probably:)
September 14, 201212 yr Michael had 22 entries in the top 75 at the peak of his death effect (not even including The Jackson 5's stuff). The Jam's might be the record for a group or something? Edited September 14, 201212 yr by Bré
September 14, 201212 yr Author Apparently there was an industry chart for the Top 100 but it was not published. The Top 75 was introduced in 1978. I must re-read the Guinness Book because it may be restricted to groups.
September 14, 201212 yr Author Reply from Guinness, "The UK singles chart of 27 March 1976 (not 20 March 1976 as your correspondent says) was officially a Top 50 rather than a Top 75, as it was in February 1983 for the Jam entries and as it is today, so in fact only three of The Beatles' 17 chart entries that week were in the published portion of the chart (at Nos.. 10, 45 and 46). Unfortunately, the length of both the singles and albums charts has varied over the years, and in an ideal world we’d have room in the book to explain this. All historical music records are based solely on the official lengths of the charts, so we have stated correctly that The Jam hold this record with 13 tracks in the Top 75." No mention of Michael Jackson.
September 14, 201212 yr Author I have re-checked Guinness and it refers to Groups, so MJ is excluded.
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