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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 shipped to retail and other ancillary markets.<ref name="RIAA Certification Criteria"> at RIAA.com. Retrieved on September 19 2006</ref> (Some other countries have similar schemes. See Gold album.) 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).

Currently, the normal RIAA certifications for albums and singles are:

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

Multi-disc albums are counted once for each disc within the album, if the album is 100 minutes or more in total length [2]. For example, each copy of OutKast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (total time 134:56) and Shania Twain's Up! (145:44), both double albums, was counted twice, meaning each album was certified diamond after only 5 million copies were shipped; however, each copy of Christina Aguilera's Back to Basics will only count once despite its being a double album, as its total time is only 78:55.

The best-selling album in the United States is The Eagles' Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975), which has gone 29 times platinum.

Contents

[edit] List of artists with most gold, platinum and multi-platinum albums

These artists have the most gold, platinum and multi-platinum albums (each album is counted only once even if the album was certified gold, platinum, and multi-platinum): Note: not all record companies requested certification. If none was requested none is given. Also when the standards changed in the late 80s (for example a Gold Single went from 1,000,000 units to 500,000 units and a platinum single went from 2,000,000 units to 1,000,000 units, not all record companies requested re-certification, so take that into account when looking at the following lists. Notably newer artists like Madonna benefit from this lowering of numbering of units

  1. Elvis Presley (97 Gold, 55 of which went Platinum, 25 of which went multi-platinum, tops in every category )
  2. Barbra Streisand (50, 31, 13) (female with the most gold, multi-platinum albums and #1 Albums)
  3. The Beatles (43, 38, 24 - most for any group in every category)
  4. The Rolling Stones (42, 27,11)
  5. Neil Diamond (39, 21, 11)
  6. Elton John (37, 25, 12)
  7. Frank Sinatra (33, 10, 3)
  8. Bob Dylan (33, 15, 5) (two with The Band)
  9. George Strait (32, 28, 13)
  10. Kenny Rogers/First Edition (29, 19, 8)
  11. Aerosmith (25, 18, 12) (most for any American group in every category)
  12. Willie Nelson (22, 16, 7)
  13. KISS (24, 10, 2)
  14. Rod Stewart (25, 18, 10)
  15. Reba McEntire (24, 18, 8)
  16. Rush (23, 14, 3)
  17. Alabama (22)
  18. Chicago (22)
  19. Eric Clapton (22)
  20. Prince (22)
  21. Hank Williams, Jr. (22)
  22. Barry Manilow (21)
  23. The Beach Boys (20)
  24. John Denver (20)
  25. Jefferson Airplane (20)
  26. AC/DC (19, 19, 11)
  27. Pink Floyd (18, 15, 12)

source: [3]

[edit] Artists with the Most Albums Sold

Totals are derived from cumulative album sales totals as of July 31, 2006. [4] </br>Figures are in millions

  1. The Beatles 169.0
  2. Elvis Presley 118.5
  3. Garth Brooks 116.0
  4. Led Zeppelin 109.5
  5. The Eagles 91.0
  6. Billy Joel 79.5
  7. Pink Floyd 73.5
  8. Barbra Streisand 71.0
  9. Elton John 69.0
  10. AC/DC 68.0
  11. Aerosmith 65.5
  12. The Rolling Stones 65.5
  13. Madonna 63.0
  14. George Strait 62.5
  15. Bruce Springsteen 62.5
  16. Mariah Carey 61.5
  17. Michael Jackson 60.5
  18. Metallica 57.0
  19. Van Halen 56.5
  20. Whitney Houston 54.0

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

Main article: RIAA single certification

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

  1. Elvis Presley (24G+28P, tops for both Gold and Platinum, for a total of 52 Gold awards. Presley went Multi-platinum with 7 of them, the most for any artist, or group.
  2. Mariah Carey (25G+12P, the most platinum for any female artist)
  3. Janet Jackson (26 Gold single awards, only female with 26 gold.
  4. Madonna (24G+4P)
  5. The Beatles (18G - most for any group+6P)
  6. Whitney Houston (14G+6P)
  7. Elton John (13G+6P)
  8. The Temptations (10G+6P)
  9. Billy Joel (1G)
  10. Aretha Franklin (15G)

[edit] See also

[edit] References

<references/>

[edit] External links

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