10 Best-Selling Rock Albums Of The 1980s

1. Back In Black - AC/DC (50,000,000)

The widely-accepted answer to the best-selling album of all time is Michael Jackson's Thriller, with an estimated 70 million total sales to its name.

At second place on that list is AC/DC's Back in Black and its 50 million worldwide sales.

Not bad. Not bad at all.

Back in Black was made under tumultuous circumstances, as it was the first AC/DC record since the untimely death of original lead singer Bon Scott.

Nobody knew what the band's future would hold following this shocking news, but no one saw this coming.

With new singer Brian Johnson on board, AC/DC hit the studio and got to work crafting some masterpieces. The title song, Shoot to Thrill, Hells Bells, You Shook Me All Night Long. All these tracks and more helped drum up some truly astronomical numbers for the group.

600,000 copies in the UK. Almost 1 million copies in Australia. Over 1 million copies in Canada and Germany. 25 million copies in the USA. All of these sales and plenty more have given Back in Black its well-earned place in musical folklore.

If you've somehow never heard this album before, then it's worth asking around. Someone is bound to have it somewhere.

Contributor
Contributor

Jacob Simmons has a great many passions, including rock music, giving acclaimed films three-and-a-half stars, watching random clips from The Simpsons on YouTube at 3am, and writing about himself in the third person.