(Credits: Far Out / NASA / Uwe Conrad)
Thu 19 February 2026 22:00, UK
The 1970s were the decade of the blockbuster album.
Having emerged from the previous decade’s countercultural embrace of the LP, the holy album swelled to the era’s primary relic, deemed by any self-respecting artist their ultimate artistic expression in the music canon.
Such an impression wasn’t wrong; the top ten biggest-selling albums of all time marked by Pink Floyd at the earliest with 1973’s The Dark Side of the Moon, and over half of the ten packed with LPs from the decade. But the single hadn’t entirely shifted. While plenty of bands were indebted to the album, Led Zeppelin and Grateful Dead famously viewed the single as an afterthought, the all-important promo still was able to force pop pickers to part with their cash.
The singles record breakers by claimed sales to this day are still the hits of yesteryear, for a long time Bing Crosby knocking it out of the park with his ‘White Christmas’ and ‘Silent Night’ before Elton John stole his thunder with the weepy ‘Candle in the Wind 1997’, but of late, Chinese actor Xiao Zhan’s ‘Spotlight’ has stacked up an incredible over 53million units flying like hot cakes.
The 1970s don’t quite touch such commercial heights, but there are still some impressive million movers among the decade’s chart toppers. Billy Joel’s ‘Piano Man’ and Queen’s ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ and ‘We Are the Champions’ all just about sniffed at the ten mil mark, Joel’s 1973 hit managing 9.81million single sales.
So, what are the six 1970s songs that sold over 10million?
In sixth place is Creedence Clearwater Revival’s ‘Have You Ever Seen the Rain’ with 10.2million, jumping up a million with Aussie favourites AC/DC duckwalking fifth with 1979’s scorching ‘Highway to Hell’, a feat not much of a surprise considering their mammoth stature as one of the biggest selling artists ever.
R&B party ensemble Earth, Wind & Fire take bronze with the massive ‘September’, raking in an astonishing 11.8m, but the one band that takes both silver and gold will likely be no surprise.
The 1980s were certainly strong for Queen, but the 1970s were their classic decade. Orbiting the glam era but weaving their lavish baroque pop before stripping down their ornate sound as the punk and new wave lit a fire underneath the whole classic rock scene, Queen soldiered through the decade as the era’s true cockroach survivors, withstanding rock’s rapidly shifting climate as a national treasure off their celebrated 1970s output.
With 12.12m copies flying, 1977’s ‘We Will Rock You’ couldn’t get enough sales, the arena stomper from News of the World that managed to enjoy a cultural footing among American sports grounds as much as the UK football terraces.
Taking the 1970s’ top spot, however, is Queen’s defining orchestral opus. Leading 1975’s A Night at the Opera, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ would wow the globe with its chamber pop drama and midway rock attack, selling a whopping 17.47m certified units and reigning champion as the decade’s all-time biggest selling single.