Thriller is no longer the biggest selling album in the US

Digging deeper into the realm of RIAA magic, consider the treatment afforded the Eagles’ Their Greatest Hits 1971–1975. Originally certified in 1976 as part of the promotional thrust around Platinum designation, 1971–1975 was inexplicably re-certified twelve times platinum in 1990, and in 1995, an inconceivable twenty-two times.

This ballooned to twenty-six times in 1999, with a final certification of twenty-nine times platinum in 2006 — a broadly publicized crest, as it meant the compilation had overtaken Michael Jackson’s Thriller as the best-selling album of all time. According to the RIAA, Their Greatest Hits 1971–1975 shipped seventeen million copies between 1990 and 2006. Yet according to SoundScan, over the same period, it sold just over five million.

Given that between 2006 and 2010, it barely scanned half a million — and that figure includes digital downloads — we can see that not only was the RIAA on a mission of intent rather than accuracy in trumpeting this album’s significance, they have totally disregarded widely-available statistics in the process. Even under the RIAA system, there were twelve million copies outstanding — potential returns — to count against the Eagles at the moment Hits was certified twenty-nine times platinum, and supposedly surpassed Thriller.