RIAA certification

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In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets.[1] (Some other countries have similar schemes. See Music recording sales certification.) Certification is not automatic; for an award to be made, the record label must pay a fee to have the sales of the recording audited. The audit is conducted against unit shipments (most often an artists' royalty statement is used), which includes albums sold directly to retailers and one-stops, direct to consumer sales (music clubs & mail order) and other outlets. Shipments that could potentially be returned to the label can not be counted.

Contrary to popular belief, Nielsen SoundScan figures are not used in RIAA certification; the RIAA system predates Nielsen SoundScan and includes sales outlets Nielsen misses. Prior to Nielsen SoundScan, RIAA certification was the only audited and verifiable system for tracking music sales in the U.S.; it is still the only system capable of tracking 100% of sales (albeit as shipments less potential returns, not actual sales like Nielsen SoundScan).

Contents

Currently, the normal RIAA certifications for albums are:

  • 500,000 units: Gold album.
  • 1,000,000 units: Platinum album.
  • 2,000,000 units: Multi-Platinum album.
  • 10,000,000 units: Diamond album.

The following certifications are given only to recordings of which over 50% of the content is in the Spanish language [1]:

  • 100,000 units: Oro album.
  • 200,000 units: Platino album.
  • of 400,000 units: Multi-Platino album.

Multi-disc albums are counted once for each disc within the album if it is over 100 minutes in length. For example, each copy of OutKast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (running time of 134:56) and Shania Twain's Up! (145:44), both double albums, were counted twice, meaning each album was certified diamond after only 5 million copies were shipped.

Top selling artists [2]
(updated 17 July 2007)
Artist Units
(millions)
Beatles, The 170
Brooks, Garth 123
Presley, Elvis 118.5
Led Zeppelin 109.5
Eagles 91
Joel, Billy 79.5
Eminem 75
Pink Floyd 73.5
Streisand, Barbra 71
John, Elton 69.5
AC/DC 69
Rolling Stones, The 66
Aerosmith 65.5
Strait, George 65.5
Springsteen, Bruce 63.5
Madonna 63
Carey, Mariah 61.5
Jackson, Michael 60.5
Metallica 57
Van Halen 56.5
Houston, Whitney 54
U2 52
Rogers, Kenny 50.5
Linkin Park 50.3
Dion, Celine 49
Fleetwood Mac 48.5
Kenny G 48
Diamond, Neil 48
Twain, Shania 47
Alabama 46
Journey 45
Santana 43
Clapton, Eric 42
Jackson, Alan 42
Seger, Bob and the Silver Bullet Band 40
Prince 39.5
Guns N' Roses 38.5
Simon & Garfunkel 38.5
Chicago 38
McEntire, Reba 38
Backstreet Boys 37
Stewart, Rod 37
Dylan, Bob 37
2Pac 36.5
Foreigner 36.5
Def Leppard 35
Nelson, Willie 35
Bone Thugs-n-Harmony 35
Collins, Phil 33.5
Bon Jovi 33
Queen 32.5
Denver, John 32.5
Taylor, James 32.5
Doors, The 32
Kelly, R. 32
McGraw, Tim 31
Spears, Britney 31
Boston 31
Matthews, Dave Band 31
Dixie Chicks 30.5
Ronstadt, Linda 30
Pearl Jam 30
Petty, Tom & The Heartbreakers 28.5
Osbourne, Ozzy 28.25
Lynyrd Skynyrd 28
Bolton, Michael 28
'N Sync 28
Mellencamp, John 27.5
Boyz II Men 27
Mannheim Steamroller 27
Manilow, Barry 27
Brooks & Dunn 26
Creedence Clearwater Revival 26
Bee Gees 26
Enya 26
Jackson, Janet 26
Sinatra, Frank 25.5
Rush 25
Nirvana 25
Selena 25
Hill, Faith 25
Jay-Z 25
ZZ Top 25
Vandross, Luther 24.5
Carpenters, The 24.5
Miller, Steve Band 24.5
Creed 24
Mötley Crüe 23.5
Earth, Wind & Fire 23.5
Cars, The 23.5
Gill, Vince 23.5
Buffett, Jimmy 23
Police, The 22.5
Sade 22.5
Hendrix, Jimi 22
Doobie Brothers 22
Richie, Lionel 22
Keith, Toby 22
Green Day 22
TLC 22
Beastie Boys 22
Outkast 22
Megadeth 22
Kid Rock & The Twisted Brown Trucker Band 22
Gold and Platinum albums [3]
(updated 17 July 2007)
Artist Gold Platinum Multi-Platinum
AC/DC 19 19 11
Aerosmith 25 18 12
Alabama 22 20 10
Beach Boys, The 20 9 6
Beatles, The 45 39 24
Brooks, Garth 15 15 14
Buffett, Jimmy 17 9 3
Cash, Johnny 18 10 5
Chicago 22 18 8
Clapton, Eric 24 12 8
Denver, John 20 13 7
Diamond, Neil 39 21 11
Doors, The 18 14 5
Dylan, Bob 36 16 5
Grateful Dead 19 6 4
Hendrix, Jimi 17 9 6
Isley Brothers 15 10 3
Jackson, Alan 16 14 8
Jefferson Airplane/Starship 20 5 1
Jethro Tull 15 3 1
Joel, Billy 18 17 12
John, Elton 37 26 12
Kelly R. 13 12 9
Kenny G 15 11 8
Kiss 24 10 2
Led Zeppelin 18 17 13
Lynyrd Skynyrd 19 13 7
Madonna 17 17 12
Manilow, Barry 23 13 6
Mannheim Steamroller 17 7 4
Mathis, Johnny 16 6 2
Mc Entire, Reba 24 18 8
Mellencamp, John 15 12 5
Nelson, Willie 22 16 7
Petty, Tom & The Heartbreakers 15 8 5
Pink Floyd 18 15 12
Presley, Elvis 81 45 24
Prince 23 16 7
Queen 18 11 6
Rogers, Kenny 30 19 8
Rolling Stones, The 42 28 11
Ronstadt, Linda 17 13 7
Rush 24 14 3
Santana 20 10 7
Sinatra, Frank 33 10 3
Springsteen, Bruce 19 16 10
Stewart, Rod 26 18 10
Strait, George 35 32 13
Streisand, Barbra 50 30 13
Taylor, James 19 14 5
Temptations, The 19 6 1
U2 15 15 11
Vandross, Luther 18 15 7
Who, The 18 10 5
Williams, Hank, Jr. 22 8 1
Young, Neil 18 7 3

Diamond(10+ Million) Certified (RIAA)[4]

EX:

  • Artist (- Album)
    • Released
    • Sales [in millions] (♦ [+ ▲])

Main article: RIAA single certification

Each Platinum or Multi-platinum single has already been certified Gold.

  1. Elvis Presley (24G+28P, tops for Platinum, for a total of 52 Gold awards. Presley went Multi-platinum with 7 of them, the most for any artist or group.)
  2. Madonna (26G+4P)
  3. Mariah Carey (24G+12P)
  4. Tommy James & The Shondells (23 Gold singles)
  5. Janet Jackson (23 Gold single awards)
  6. The Beatles (18G - most for any group+6P)
  7. Whitney Houston (14G+6P)
  8. Elton John (13G+6P)
  9. The Temptations (10G+6P)
  10. George Michael (7G+2P)
  11. Billy Joel (4G+2P)[2]
  12. Aretha Franklin (15G)

Julio Iglesias has more platinum, gold, and the Guinness Diamond album for selling more records in more languages than any other musical artist in history: Spanish, German, Japanese, English, Italian, Portuguese, French, Tagalog.[citation needed]

Main: http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=tblTopArt

  1. ^ RIAA certification criteria. Retrieved on September 19, 2006
  2. ^ RIAA Gold and Platinum Search for singles by Billy Joel

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