The Eagles were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971 by Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon, and Randy Meisner. With five number-one singles, six Grammy Awards, five American Music Awards, and six number one albums, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s. At the end of the 20th century, two of their albums, Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) and Hotel California, were ranked among the 20 best-selling albums in the United States according to the Recording Industry Association of America. Hotel California is ranked 37th in Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" and the band was ranked number 75 on the magazine's 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
The Eagles are one of the world's best-selling bands of all time, having sold more than 150 million record—100 million in the U.S. alone—including 42 million copies of Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) and 32 million copies of Hotel California. "Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975)" was the best selling album of the 20th century in the U.S. They are the fifth-highest-selling music act and the highest-selling American band in U.S. history.
The group's first two albums combined traditional rock and roll, country, and folk music styles, which gave the band a sound that brought them to the forefront of the 1970s country rock and folk rock movements. For their third album On the Border, the band widened their style to include a prominent hard rock sound, a genre the band had only touched upon previously. The 1975 follow-up album One of These Nights saw the group explore a softer sound, notably on the hit singles "Take It to the Limit", and "Lyin' Eyes", which combined rock, pop, country and folk styles. The band's 2007 comeback album Long Road Out of Eden saw them recall the country rock sound of their early days. The Eagles also experimented with various other genres with their songs, including rhythm and blues, blues rock, funk, pop rock, disco and bluegrass