Creed released their breakthrough album Human Clay on September 28, 1999. The album became a massive hit thanks to the singles “Higher,” “What If” and “With Arms Wide Open.” It also happens to be one of the biggest-selling albums of the SoundScan era, which officially began March 1, 1991.
Per a feature piece from Billboard, “SoundScan, which is now known as MRC Data, measured album sales as they happened — stores scanned bar codes at the checkout register — and over the next few months [after its launch] it upended the conventional music business wisdom about what sold, as well as when and how. It revealed the popularity of several genres — alternative rock, country, hip-hop, harder metal — that had been seen as commercially marginal compared to bread-and-butter pop-rock bands.”
Basically, SoundScan provided real-time data of what was actually selling at record stores and other retailers. Needless to say, it was a game-changer for the music industry.
Human Clay is among very unique company on the list of the biggest-selling albums of the SoundScan era. Scroll through the gallery below to see which titles join them in the top ten.
