The Dark Side of the Moon

The Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth studio album by the British progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released on March 1, 1973, in the United States and March 23, 1973, in the United Kingdom by Harvest Records. The band presented an early version of the album, primarily developed during live performances, several months before recording began. The album's concept is based on the pressures the band experienced during their lives and addresses the apparent mental health issues suffered by former band member Syd Barrett, who left the group in 1968. The Dark Side of the Moon was recorded in two sessions in 1972 and 1973 at Abbey Road Studios in London.

The record draws on ideas explored in Pink Floyd's earlier recordings and performances, while omitting the lengthy instrumentals that characterised their early work. The band used multi-track recording, tape loops, and analogue synthesizers such as the EMS VCS3 and Synthi AKS. Engineer Alan Parsons was responsible for many sonic aspects and for recruiting singer Clare Torry, who is featured on The Great Gig in the Sky.

As a concept album, The Dark Side of the Moon explores themes such as conflict, greed, time, death, and mental illness. Snippets of interviews with the band's road crew are featured alongside philosophical quotes. The cover art, depicting a prism spectrum, was designed by Storm Thorgerson in response to keyboardist Richard Wright's request for a "simple and bold" graphic, representing the band's lighting and the album's themes. The album was promoted with two singles: Money and Us and Them.

The Dark Side of the Moon is one of the most critically acclaimed albums in history, frequently appearing on professional lists of the greatest albums of all time. It helped propel Pink Floyd to international fame, bringing wealth and recognition to its four members. A true success of the album era, it also boosted record sales across the music industry in the 1970s. It was certified fourteen times platinum in the United Kingdom and topped the Billboard "Top LPs & Tapes" chart in the United States, where it spent a total of 958 weeks. With estimated sales of over 45 million copies, it is Pink Floyd's most commercially successful album and one of the best-selling albums worldwide. In 2013, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress, as it was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".