RIAA certification
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In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of sales albums and singles have made. (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.
- RIAA Certification of 100,000 units: Oro album.
- RIAA Certification of 200,000 units: Platino album.
- RIAA Certification of 400,000 units: Multi-Platino album.
- RIAA Certification of 500,000 units: Gold album.
- RIAA Certification of 1,000,000 units: Platinum album.
- RIAA Certification of 1,500,000 units: 1.5 Platinum album.
- RIAA Certification of n,000,000 units: Multi-Platinum album or nx Platinum album.
- RIAA Certification of 10,000,000 units: Diamond album.
The Oro, Platino, and Multi-Platino certifications are given only to recordings of which over 50% of the content is in the Spanish language. [1] (http://www.riaa.com/gp/lospremios/default.asp)
Multi-disc albums get counted once for each disc within the album [2] (http://www.riaa.com/gp/certification/criteria.asp).
The best-selling album of all time is The Eagles' Greatest Hits, which has gone 28 times platinum, meaning it has sold 28 million copies.
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List of artists with most platinum albums
These artists have the most gold and platinum albums (each album is counted only once even if the album was certified gold, platinum, and multi-platinum):
- Elvis Presley (80)
- Barbra Streisand (46) (the female with the most multi-platinum titles)
- The Beatles (41)
- The Rolling Stones (38)
- Neil Diamond (37)
- Elton John (32)
- Kenny Rogers/First Edition (28)
- Frank Sinatra(26)
- Bob Dylan (28) (two with The Band)
- Willie Nelson (24)
- George Strait (24) (all 24 have gone gold and platinum)
- Kiss (23)
- Rush (22)
- Alabama (22)
- Mariah Carey (12)
- Madonna (9)
- Whitney Houston (5)
List of artists with most platinum singles
These artists as having the most gold and platinum singles.
- Elvis Presley (24+28)
- Madonna (20+2)
- The Beatles (19+6)
- Whitney Houston (14+6)
- Janet Jackson (16+3)
- Elton John (13+6)
- Michael Jackson (7+9)
- The Temptations (10+6)
- Mariah Carey (13+10)
- Aretha Franklin (15)
Further research
- List of best selling albums
- List of best selling singles
- Gold album
- Recording Industry Association of America
External links
- RIAA Website (http://www.RIAA.org)
- Billboard Magazine (http://www.billboard.com) - a magazine that publishes weekly music rankings