4 - Crosby, Stills, Nash (and Young) - 29.8m
There is a bit of a combined adjustment going on here. Originally launched as a trio of David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash (CSN), they were later joined by Neil Young in 1969 (CSNY). The original trio as CSN was very successful with close to ten million album sales. The follow-on of CSNY achieved almost 20 million album sales. I’ve combined the two groups as a single entry in this dozen, either individually would still have made the list in their own right. A fantastic combination of artists in either format.
3 - Emerson Lake and Palmer - 40m
It’s perhaps a bit of a shock to see just how many sales this combination of Keith Emerson from The Nice, Greg Lake from King Crimson, and Carl Palmer from Atomic Rooster achieved. We can only imagine what might have happened if stories about Jimi Hendrix also joining up had come to fruition. They were the first prog rock supergroup to emerge and with that slight restriction in terms of audience range, their 40 million sales are pretty phenomenal.
2 - Journey - 100m
Journey has racked up an incredible 100m in album sales since forming back in 1973. Originally, the lineup included Gregg Rollie and Neal Schon from Santana, bassist from Steve Miller Band Ross Valory, and George Tickner from the Californian psychedelic rockers Frumious Bandersnatch. It did change over the years as was the case for many groups. Various members came and went, and reunions took place, but over the last few years, there have been more lawsuits and disputes between members than albums.
1 - Eagles - 120m
The ultimate supergroup with their huge sales hail. Over 120m albums, that's astonishing by any measure. They started as a backing band for Linda Ronstadt before letting loose in their own right. That first lineup as Eagles had Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Randy Meisner from Poco, and Bernie Leadon from The Flying Burrito Brothers. More names came and they were another brand not averse to a dispute or two. But they sure made sweet sounds when they did get together.