AC/DC now had the third biggest-selling album in US history

When AC/DC emerged with new singer Brian Johnson on the Back in Black album on July 25, 1980, there was plenty of skepticism. At the time, AC/DC was a solid mid-level band with a distinctive-sounding lead singer. How could they possibly survive the death of Bon Scott?

As home runs go, there are few examples in music of a bigger one than the release of Back in Black. This week, it passed another milestone as it has gone platinum 27x in the US alone. That means 27,000,000 million copies sold in the United States alone. It was certified 26x platinum on July 8, 2024, so it just took another 13 months to sell another million.

The US top 3 standings look like this now:

1. The Eagles, Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 (38 million copies)
2. Michael Jackson, Thriller (34 million)
3. AC/DC, Back in Black (27 million)

If we look at global sales, things shake out like this.

1. Michael Jackson, Thriller
2. AC/DC, Back in Black
3. Whitney Houston & others, Bodyguard Soundtrack
4. Pink Floyd, The Dark Side of the Moon
5. Eagles, Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975