Eagles Hotel California

The album was recorded by Bill Szymczyk at the Criteria and Record Plant studios between March and October 1976, and then released on Asylum in December. It was their first album with guitarist Joe Walsh, who had replaced founding member Bernie Leadon, and is the last album to feature bassist Randy Meisner. The front cover is a photograph of the Beverly Hills Hotel by David Alexander.

Hotel California topped the US Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart. At the 20th Grammy Awards, the Eagles won a Grammy Award for "Hotel California", which won Record of the Year, and for "New Kid in Town". The album was nominated for Album of the Year but lost to Fleetwood Mac's Rumours. Three singles were released from the album, with two topping the Billboard Hot 100, "New Kid in Town" and "Hotel California", whilst "Life in the Fast Lane" reached No. 11.

A 40th anniversary special edition of Hotel California was released in November 2017. Hotel California is one of the best-selling albums of all time. It has been certified 26× Platinum in the US, and has sold over 32 million copies worldwide, making it the band's best-selling album after Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975). It has been ranked as one of the greatest albums of all time. In 2003 and 2012, it was ranked number 37 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".