The Eagles Have Landed

This won’t give Michael Jackson a peaceful easy feeling: The Eagles have snatched a piece of the crown from the King of Pop.

The band’s 1976 album, “Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975,” has been certified for sales of 24 million copies by the Recording Industry Assn. of America, pulling it into a tie for first place on the all-time U.S. sales list with Jackson’s once-thought-uncatchable “Thriller.”

And the Eagles’ album, which has outsold the Jackson collection by more than a 3-to-1 margin since SoundScan began monitoring U.S. record sales in 1991, seems certain to soon pass “Thriller.”

“It’s obvious that this band is an institution beyond anyone’s wildest dreams,” says the Eagles’ longtime manager, Irving Azoff, when asked about the band’s sales milestone. “This faceless, nameless band that’s never gotten that much respect sort of just sneaks up on you.”

Eagles drummer Don Henley, who co-wrote most of the group’s material with bandmate and fellow lead vocalist Glenn Frey, says the sales numbers for “Their Greatest Hits” are gratifying because they show that the music is enduring.

“You think about people listening to your songs when you’re writing them, and you’re hoping for a wide audience,” says Henley, by phone from his home in Dallas, “but it never occurred to me that they would reach so many people.

“I like to think that we have somehow captured some of the essence of our time, that we have somehow touched a nerve in the fabric of our generation--and subsequent generations. I don’t think all these records are being bought by baby boomers.”

“Their Greatest Hits”--which features songs from the Eagles’ first four albums, including the chart-topping singles “One of These Nights” and “Best of My Love”--has crept up steadily on Jackson’s 1982 blockbuster collection for more than a decade.

In 1984, when “Thriller” was certified by the RIAA for sales of 20 million units, the Eagles’ record had sold about 10 million. Even as recently as 1993, sales of “Their Greatest Hits” trailed “Thriller” sales by 8 million units, according to RIAA certifications.

But while “Thriller” sales remained slow, the Eagles reunited in 1994 after a 14-year breakup and mounted one of the most successful concert tours in history, drawing more than 3.5 million fans and grossing about $210 million in more than 150 dates around the world before the two-year trek finally ended last August in Scotland.

Through the tour, Elektra Records kept filling orders for “Their Greatest Hits.’

“It has really been amazing,” says Steve Heldt, senior vice president of sales at Elektra. “The Eagles’ sales are so consistent year after year that their catalog [of older albums] is a gold mine.”

Worldwide, however, Epic Records’ “Thriller” remains No. 1. Though there is no agency that certifies international sales, Epic estimates global sales for “Thriller” at 46 million. International sales on the Eagles album weren’t immediately available, but the package’s total is believed to be in the mid-30-million range.

Asked about the Eagles-Jackson sales competition, an Epic representative said, “We’re proud that Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ still holds the record for worldwide sales.”

Though the Eagles’ detractors saw the band as synonymous with the indulgent, self-absorbed Southern California lifestyle that was examined in many of the Los Angeles-based quintet’s songs, their supporters viewed the band’s best work as compelling looks at gradual loss of ‘60s idealism.

Blending strains of country, folk and rock with Byrds-like vocal harmonies, the Eagles scored a series of Top 40 hits in the ‘70s, including “Take It Easy,” “Witchy Woman,” “Lyin’ Eyes” and “Take It to the Limit,” all of which are included on “Their Greatest Hits.”

Their other 1976 album, “Hotel California,” which was released nine months after the greatest-hits record, has sold 14 million copies, placing it in a tie for 10th place on the all-time RIAA list. Besides Henley and Frey, the original lineup included Randy Meisner and Bernie Leadon. Don Felder joined the band in 1975 and Joe Walsh replaced Leadon the same year. Timothy B. Schmit replaced Meisner, but that was after the “Greatest Hits” package was released.

Azoff says he knew from the beginning that the Eagles’ appeal would endure.

“No one ever starts out and thinks, ‘We’re going to have the biggest-selling album in history,’ but we were all pretty cocky,” the manager says. “We all expected to sell out stadiums, and we all expected to sell a gazillion records.

“But it’s gone a little beyond [our dreams], and I think that’s a tribute to what Don and Glenn have always called ‘song power.’ People can take whatever potshots they want, but there was always a real longevity in this material.”