Credit: Jace & Afsoon

What was the first album to go platinum on pre-orders alone?

Tue 1 April 2025 2:00, UK

Sometimes, a killer debut album can be an albatross around an artist’s neck. A fiery burst onto the scene brings with it looming expectation to follow it up with continued greatness that can quite easily break an artist. Luckily, in the case of Led Zeppelin, the music they had up their sleeve after the release of their self-titled debut album was just as good.

Ultimately, it was apt that after their sophomore album titled Led Zeppelin II, and everything up until their fifth, Houses of the Holy followed that sequence because each album was consistent in its greatness. All five albums were bonafide rock powerhouses that showcased Jimmy Page’s enigmatic guitar, John Bonham’s raucous drumming and Robert Plant’s hypnotic vocals.

Upon the release of those records, Led Zeppelin was touring pretty consistently, and the expanse of their artistic capabilities knew no bounds. This was partly because of their proficiency as a band and partly because of the sort of adoration they were receiving night after night on tour that spoke of rock immortality.

So, when it came time to work on their sixth record, Physical Graffiti, they poured all their on-stage charisma and confidence into the studio. Knowing questions were raised about how long they could sustain this and, more importantly, how they would outdo themselves, they embarked on the recording of a double album.

“We weren’t the only group, nor the first, to be doing a double album,” Jimmy Page told USA Today. “But I really wanted to make sure by the time that this was ready to be delivered to the record company that this was going to be like the mother of all double albums because it wasn’t going to have padding of any description on it.”

The well-oiled live machine was fired up inside the studio, and Zeppelin laid down a double album that was progressive and classic in equal measures, but all wrapped up in an asphalt bow and gifted as a box of heavy-duty rock. Most notable is the seminal track ‘Kashmir’, which showcased the sort of forward-facing ideas the band wanted to lay down without neglecting the nuts and bolts of what made them so compelling.

“I had all these ideas I wanted to try out, and one of these ideas I had was ‘Kashmir’. This sort of riff that would go round and round and round, literally, musically, it’s called a ‘rond’,” Page explained. “I had this idea in my head, but I was itching to get there with John Bonham, and he just loved it and we played it over and over and over, ‘cause it was just the two of us at that point in time. I knew that what I was bringing in, that alone was a really good substantial start to everything.”

Artistically, it was a resounding success for the band. But, a sweetener for the four rockers was the way in which the album smashed commercial records and made them more than a healthy return on their experimental venture. It reached number one on Billboard’s albums chart and was the first album ever to go platinum on advance orders alone. Since its release, it’s hit that feat another 15 times and is reported to have sold around 16million copies.

What album has had the most pre-orders of all time?

Given how lucrative the music industry used to be, with the sale of one single physical copy matching the amount we scroungers pay for a monthly streaming subscription, the idea of pre-order was far less important. In days past, pre-orders weren’t used as an antidote to a record being exclusively streamed upon release. They were just a nice way for an artist to flex their fanbase ahead of their upcoming chart domination.

And in 1987, no artist had a bigger fanbase than Michael Jackson. Five years after releasing Thrillier, what is still to this day the biggest-selling album of all time, Jackson was riding the crest of a popularity wave rarely seen before. Joining forces with Quincy Jones once again, the pair fed the appetite of a global fanbase and laid down his seventh studio album, Bad. The album’s destiny as a hit record was pre-written given the mercurial popularity of Jackson in the 1980s, but, regardless, it went on to join its preceding album as a record breaker.

Bad went on to become the most pre-ordered record of all time with CBS Records shipping 2.25million copies to stores in the US in 1987. Upon release, it sold 45million, copies and the lead single, ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’, hit number one on the US Billboard charts.