Beating King of Pop Michael Jackson, The Eagles have No.1 album of all-time

Don Henley, left, and Glenn Frey of The Eagles perform on the "History of the Eagles" tour at the Forum in Los Angeles. Photo / AP

The Eagles' greatest hits album has moonwalked past Michael Jackson's Thriller to become history's best-selling album of all-time in the US.

The Recording Industry Association of America said that the Eagles' album - Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 - is now certified 38x platinum, which means sales and streams of the album have reached 38 million copies.

The album was released in 1976 and pushes Jackson's Thriller, which is 33x platinum, to second place.

This combination photo shows cover images from the Eagles albums "Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975," left, and "Hotel California." Photo / AP

RIAA also said that the Eagles' Hotel California, released in 1977, is now 26x platinum and makes it the third best-selling album of all-time.

The last time RIAA tallied sales for the Eagles' greatest hits album was in 2006, when it said it was 29x platinum. Sales and streams for Thriller were last updated last year.

"We are grateful for our families, our management, our crew, the people at radio and, most of all, the loyal fans who have stuck with us through the ups and downs of 46 years. It's been quite a ride," Don Henley said in a statement.

RIAA's platinum status was once equivalent to selling one million albums or songs, but in 2013 the company began incorporating streaming from YouTube, Spotify and other digital music services to determine certification for albums and songs.

Now 1500 streams of an album is equivalent to an album sale. Also, 10 song downloads = 1 album sale.

The Eagles, whose hits include Hotel California and Take It Easy, formed in the early 1970s. They broke up in 1980 and reunited 14 years later.

The band entered the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

- AP