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

[edit] List of certifications

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), Tupac Shakur's All Eyes On Me (running time of 132:18), and Shania Twain's Up! (145:44), all three double albums, were counted twice, meaning each album was certified diamond after only 5 million copies were shipped.

[edit] Records

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
Pink Floyd 73.5
Streisand, Barbra 71
John, Elton 69.5
AC/DC 69
Aerosmith 66.5
Rolling Stones, The 66
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
Dion, Celine 49
Fleetwood Mac 48.5
Kenny G 48
Diamond, Neil 48
Twain, Shania 47
Alabama 46
Motley Crue 46
Linkin Park 45
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 33.5
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
Eminem 27
Boyz II Men 27
Mannheim Steamroller 27
Manilow, Barry 27
Brooks & Dunn 26
Kenny Chesney 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
Kid Rock & The Twisted Brown Trucker Band 22

Gold and Platinum albums [3]
(updated 17 July, 2007)
Artist Gold Platinum Multi-Platinum
AC/DC191911
Aerosmith 251812
Alabama 222010
Beach Boys, The 2096
Beatles, The 453924
Brooks, Garth 151514
Buffett, Jimmy 1793
Cash, Johnny 18105
Chicago 22188
Clapton, Eric 24128
Denver, John 20137
Diamond, Neil 392111
Doors, The 18145
Dylan, Bob 36165
Grateful Dead 1964
Hendrix, Jimi 1796
Isley Brothers 15103
Jackson, Alan 16148
Jefferson Airplane/Starship 2051
Jethro Tull 1531
Joel, Billy 181712
John, Elton 372612
Kelly R.13129
Kenny G 15118
Kiss 24102
Led Zeppelin 181713
Linkin Park 663
Lynyrd Skynyrd 19137
Madonna 171712
Manilow, Barry 23136
Mannheim Steamroller 1774
Mathis, Johnny 1662
Mc Entire, Reba 24188
Mellencamp, John 15125
Nelson, Willie 22167
Petty, Tom & The Heartbreakers 1585
Pink Floyd 181512
Presley, Elvis 814524
Prince 23167
Queen 18116
Rogers, Kenny 30198
Rolling Stones, The 422811
Ronstadt, Linda 17137
Rush 24143
Santana 20107
Sinatra, Frank 33103
Springsteen, Bruce 191610
Stewart, Rod 261810
Strait, George 353213
Streisand, Barbra 503013
Taylor, James 19145
Temptations, The 1961
U2 151511
Vandross, Luther 18157
Who, The 18105
Williams, Hank, Jr. 2281
Young, Neil 1873

[edit] Diamond sales

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

EX:

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

[edit] Artists with most Gold, Platinum and Multi-platinum singles

Main article: RIAA single certification
It has been suggested that RIAA single certification be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

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]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

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

[edit] External links

This article or section needs to be wikified to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please help improve this article with relevant internal links. (March 2007)
fa:گواهی‌نامه انجمن صنعت ضبط آمریکا

ru:Сертификация RIAA sv:RIAA-certifiering tr:RIAA Sertifikası

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