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This appears to be a simple misunderstanding. This archived CNN article, retrieved by a simple Google search, seems to clear up this dispute entirely. It confirms that the RIAA did indeed officially honor the album as the ""top-selling album of the century"", but it only factored in US sales. The article specifies that Thriller sold 6 million more copies than Greatest Hits in terms of worldwide sales. I originally missed what Piriczki was saying too, but they do in fact specify ""in the US"", a claim that appears to be correct, despite the fact that it's not the greatest-selling album of all time (this claim is not being made at all). Are we good here?  X "