Eagles’ ‘Greatest Hits’ album has become the first ever album to be quadruple diamond-certified in the United States.
The huge compilation album, ‘Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975’, was released back in 1976, and has now officially sold 40 million copies in the US alone – the first album to hit the milestone.
It makes it the biggest selling album in the country and, as highlighted by Consequence, it was also the first album to get a platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
To celebrate the album’s 50th anniversary this year, Eagles are sharing a new edition of the record, which will be available on February 17 and pressed on clear, 180-gram vinyl. Visit here to pre-order.
The huge milestone isn’t the only one for Eagles to be recently announced either. As well as the ‘Greatest Hits’ record becoming quadruple diamond-certified, their fan-favourite album ‘Hotel California’, also released in 1976, has now been certified as 28-times platinum.
Originally it was Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ that held the title for best-selling album in the US, but it was then overtaken by Eagles’ ‘Greatest Hits’ in 2018.
At the time Recording Industry Association Of America (RIAA) reported sales of 38 million copies for the Eagles album, while ‘Thriller’ was five million behind at 33 million copies.
The figures include streaming statistics, with 1,500 streams of an album, or 10 song downloads, being equal to one album sale.
“We are grateful for our families, our management, our crew, the people at radio and, most of all, the loyal fans who have stuck with us through the ups and downs of 46 years. It’s been quite a ride,” said frontman Don Henley at the time.
Also in 2018, ‘Hotel California’ was certified 26-times platinum.
While Eagles overtook Michael Jackson in terms of album sales in the US, ‘Thriller’ still remains the biggest-selling album on a global scale. From there, it is followed by ‘Back In Black’ by AC/DC, ‘The Bodyguard Soundtrack’ led by Whitney Houston, and Pink Floyd’s ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon’. Eagles’ ‘Greatest Hits’ record comes in at Number Five.
In other Eagles news, the rock giants are set to kick off their final run of residency shows at the Las Vegas Sphere.
At the start of their run, they had planned to perform eight shows at the state-of-the-art venue in Nevada. They then added another eight shows to the run, and after that, they added even more shows due to “overwhelming demand”.
More nights have been scheduled as part of their ‘Long Goodbye’ tour, and the first night commences tonight (Friday January 23). Another 11 shows will then follow between now and the end of March. Visit here for tickets.
