1. "The Bodyguard" (17 million copies): No wonder they will always love her. With those kind of sales the industry can forgive almost any indiscretion … including being awarded a Worst Actress Razzie for her performance in the 1992 film.
2. "Saturday Night Fever" (15 million copies): The Bee Gees hit the beat of 1977 with their contributions to this double album compilation, which also included tracks by Kool and the Gang, KC and the Sunshine Band and the Trammps’ “Disco Inferno.”
3. "Purple Rain" (13 million copies): It’s hard to say if "Purple Rain" is more Prince’s breakthrough album or a soundtrack. All the songs were by the Paisley One, they were all brand new and they were all over the auto-biographical 1984 movie that turned a guy in tights into a stacked heeled superstar
4. "Forrest Gump" (12 million copies): More Boomer classics than a night watching VH-1, from Elvis, the Doors, Dylan, the Doobie Brothers, CCR and every other band your older brother and sister likes. Truly a box of bestselling chocolates.
5. "Dirty Dancing" (11 million copies): Full of Eric Carmens, Jennifer Warnes and Alfie Zappacosta tunes, nobody puts this 1987 baby in the corner.
6. "Titanic" (11 million copies): An orchestral James Horner soundtrack. But one little tune, called “My Heart Will Go On,” sung by one Celine Dion changed all that. And that is why kids who sung it in the swimming pool in 1997 now, like everyone else, have it played at their weddings today.
7. "The Lion King" (10 million copies): The huge success of this 1994 album proves that little bit of Elton John and Tim Rice and some Hans Zimmer can truly go a long long way.
8. "Footloose" (9 million copies): Perfectly capturing the mood of ’80s MOR, this soundtrack to the 1984 Kevin Bacon fish out of water had hits in Kenny Loggins’ title track, a love theme duet between Loverboy’s Mike Reno and Heart’s Ann Wilson and tracks from Sammy Hagar, Moving Pictures and Bonnie Tyler.
9. "Top Gun" (9 million copies): Just like on the "Footloose," Loggins and Reno, this time with Loverboy, make an appearance. But what really seemed to take everyone breath away was Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away,” which still pops up at weddings.
10. "Grease (8 million copies): The melodic tones of John Travolta and Olive Newton-John, the already established tunes from the hit and still frequently staged musical and some “Greasing Lightnin’” … such innocent days when boy meets girl over summer vacation in 1958.
(Data provided by the Recording Industry Association of America)
