Talk:RIAA certification

Gold and Platinum albums: bad sort on the Multi-Platinum column

On the "Records" section, there's a sort problem on the rightmost column of the right table.
Click on Multi-Platinum and you get the numbers as follows: 10,11,12,13,14,15,1
Click again and you get: 9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,27,24,1.
Can anyone fix this? Thanks 89.1.68.129 (talk) 16:47, 3 August 2008 (UTC)

I'm also finding this problem. It doesn't seem to be resolved, and I have no idea how to fix it. Anyone know how? Wrelwser43 (talk) 03:45, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

The Beatles' best selling album

In the "Diamond sales" section, "The beatles" album is the top one. However, the Beatles article states something else on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles_(album)#Sales : "The Beatles has outsold all other Beatles album releases except Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band and Abbey Road, according to United World Chart".
Can anyone correct the wrong info? Thanks 89.1.3.77 (talk) 16:40, 4 August 2008 (UTC)

The RIAA is an organization that tracks sales/shippments of albums, singles, and various videos association with music in the United States alone, not on a worldwide scale. There are other organizations in a number of other countries like Canada, the U.K., Australia, and many others that track the various sales/shipments of other albums for those countries. There are differences, however, because an album that sells 50,000 copies in Canada is certified Gold and I think that it's 60,000 in the U.K. Anyhow, my point is that "The Beatles" is the group's highest certified album in the United States with 19x Multi-Platinum while Sgt. Pepper's and Abbey Road have been certified 11 and 12x Multi-Platinum respectively. So, the article is correct as is.Odin's Beard (talk) 22:36, 4 August 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the excellent answer. Wouldn't you think it can help if different articles used the same measurements regarding record sales? It confused me,it might confuse others as well. It's a bit inconsistent. Thanks 77.125.158.37 (talk) 15:55, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

We can't use the same measurment because the music industry of other countries has different standards than the United States. I can only assume that the reason for that, such as 50,000 units qualifying as a Gold album in Canada for instance, may have something to do with population? After all, a lot more people live in the states than in Canada and the U.K. combined which might explain why U.S. certifications require much higher sales/shipments. The Canadian Recording Industry Association and the British Phonographic Industry, or the CRIA and BPI for short, are basically their versions of the RIAA and so we have to use their certs for albums that've been certified in their countries rather than just assigning our own to them in the articles. Both organizations have websites with searchable databases like the RIAA does. I think that the CRIA's website is www.cria.ca and I'm not entirely sure about the BPI but just type in British Phonographic Industry in a Yahoo or Goggle search engine and it'll be brought up. There are also other organizations from other countries listed in the style guide section of the WP:WikiProject Discographies page. I haven't looked up most of those because, if I'm not mistaken, the sites of those organizations are, of course, written in their respective languages.Odin's Beard (talk) 23:14, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

~~$£Construtive Critisism and General Edit Tips For This Page

This page is a load of bollocks, fair play, what's with the list of best-selling artists? Its all wrong, and the same with the albums. Unless the best-selling albums is in no particular order, which it must be. Because the Dark Side of the Moon has sold tonnes more units than the Wall. And the same with the units of sales with the Beatles, 170 million, I don't think so! Its over a billion and as if Gareth Brooks is gonna be the second best-selling artist of all-time, and the people adding to this page are taking most of their sources from in wikipedia! The think the list of best-selling artists is the US, or an example, but I think the public would prefer accurate infomation, agreed? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.165.237.53 (talk) 16:49, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

The Recording Industry Association of America is an organization that tracks the sales/shipments of albums within the confines of the United States, not on a worldwide level. There is no organization that keeps track of album sales on a worldwide scale, but the music industry of some other countries have similar organizations. For instance, Canada has the Canadian Recording Industry Association and the United Kingdom has the British Phonographic Industry. In the future, I advise you to know what you're talking about first before offering criticism on the subject of any Wikipedia article.Odin's Beard (talk) 22:37, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Removal of artists certification levels

Note that I intend to remove the detail on artists award levels for the following reasons:

• That this article is about RIAA cerifications and their levels, so not appropriate to the articles context.
• That all of this detail exists in more appropriate pages. List of best-selling albums in the United States and List_of_best-selling_music_artists_in_the_United_States.

The diamond awards detail can be moved across to the best selling albums page. Any objections to this should be noted here on the discussion page. Eight88 (talk) 19:52, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

I wasn't aware that there were articles already listing the best selling albums and the best selling artists in the United States. In that case, then yes they should be taken out of this article. It's redundant to have multiple articles saying the same thing. As far as the other list in the article, the ones listing the total album certifications, shouldn't that remain? It doesn't deal with album sales, just album certs in and of themselves. I was looking over the section dealing with the singles certification and I got to thinking. Since there's not a list of them on the RIAA website, unlike the other lists on the page, it could possibly constitute original research.Odin's Beard (talk) 01:09, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

The Marshall Mathers LP

The Marshall Mathers LP by Eminem released May 23, 2000 was certified Diamond by the RIAA and has sold 19 million copies,but is absent from the list of diamond records. I dont know how to edit the page but this should be added. It also sold 1.76 million in its first week. It is the fastest selling album ever,so I think it should be on the list. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.176.63.140 (talk) 00:32, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

Sorry, but I'm afraid you're wrong. The Marshall Mathers LP isn't listed in the RIAA's list of certified Diamond albums, a list which is used and cited as a source in the RIAA certification article. Also, according to the RIAA gold and platinum searchable database, the album has been certified 9x Platinum, which isn't Diamond. Album certification and sales aren't the same things. While the album may have sold more copies than it's been certified, the RIAA doesn't update their certifications of albums or singles unless they're requested to do so by the artist or the record label they're signed with. So, as of right now, the album isn't certified Diamond, so it doesn't belong as part of the list.Odin's Beard (talk) 23:13, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

Latin Gold/Platinum certification

The RIAA certification search page mentions Latin Gold and Platinum certification, but no information about it anywhere. I assume this has replaced the Spanish-language certification mentioned in this article – the reference for that section is now a dead link. Does anyone know about this award, and whether the criteria are the same? snigbrook (talk) 14:16, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

multi platinum

There's a section for multi platinum but what about singles that did better than just 2 times platinum. Lady Gaga has two 4 times platinum singles. Shouldnt there be columns for 2,3, 4 times platinum?--Love.Game (talk) 12:26, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

The singles section of the article lists the total number of RIAA certifications an artist or band has recieved for singles. The numbers don't represent how many singles have been sold. For instance, Elvis Presley has had 54 singles certified Gold. Of those 54 certified singles, another 27 of them have been certified platinum while another 8 of those singles have recieved some degree of multi-platinum certification for a grand total of 89 RIAA single certifications. The way the section is set up, each additional multi-platinum certification isn't counted as an addition cert. as part of an artist or band's overall tally.Odin's Beard (talk) 21:32, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Bon Jovi

There is proof that bon jovi has singles and won them but not all are in the bon jovi search. I am the user RIAAcertification and i work for the RIAA i am sorry of this offended any of the moderators.--Bonjovi332 (talk) 18:36, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

bon Jovi has 150 singles rewarded(total fro platinum gold and multiplatinum) Bon Jov the album has a reward fro 20 illion sales. All of theyre albums are gold platinum adn multie platinum(i work with the RIAA this is my sons account long story) and welost the reliable source info about alot of things so for the editors read this and see if you want to put it on teh page. It is 18 gold 18 platinum and 18 multie platinum albums 50 gold 50platinum and 50 multie platinum singles--Bonjovi332 (talk) 13:45, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

The problem is that there's no proof to back up what you're saying. I'm currently looking at the RIAA database and, according to the information listed on the site, Bon Jovi only has three singles that have been certified gold. Those singles are "Always", "Have A Nice Day" and "You Want To Make A Memory". "Always" has also been ceritifed platinum according to the database and it's the only platinum cert listed for the band. Jon Bon Jovi himself, as a solo artist, has one gold single certification for "Blaze Of Glory" and the song has also been certified platinum. Whether you work for the RIAA or not is irrelevant, what matters is verifiable proof.Odin's Beard (talk) 21:46, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Tables should not include "total" column

Skoch3 (talk) 21:25, 2 April 2011 (UTC): The tables currently have a column "total" = sum of gold, platinum, multi-platinum. This total doesn't make sense, because a multi-platinum album also counts as gold and platinum. I think the column should be removed.

It should at least be reworded to make clear it is the total number of awards, not albums. Piriczki (talk) 14:18, 3 April 2011 (UTC)

Yes, even though it does state so, it's a rather strange number. Nobody really thinks in those terms, even though there is a basis in reality for it. Huw Powell (talk) 21:37, 24 December 2011 (UTC)

New formula

Per the RIAA website link here-

Units are now defined as follows:

• Each permanent digital download counts as 1 Unit for certification purposes.
• 100 on-demand audio and/or video streams will count as 1 Unit for certification purposes.

Gold – 500,000 Units (For example, this means a Gold certification can now be earned by selling 500,000 permanent downloads, or some lesser number of permanent downloads plus achieving a certain number of on-demand streams, over the lifetime of a song) Platinum – 1,000,000 Units Multi-Platinum – 2,000,000 Units (increments of 1,000,000 thereafter) NYSMy talk page 22:18, 10 May 2013 (UTC)

Controversy section

This article needs to show RIAA controversy, as well as how the RIAA is not a final statement.

Some examples:

1)Here's an excerpt from a book:

https://books.google.com/books?id=3EAGAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT289&lpg=PT289&dq=%22buddy+holly%22+%22Ten+million%22&source=bl&ots=XSiOL-vKr9&sig=D09xMBEP_YMHcZedHlGwrWlV1lY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Vq07VaryFM3Q7Abl2oHYDw&ved=0CCIQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22buddy%20holly%22%20%22Ten%20million%22&f=false

However: a search of the RIAA site reveals that Buddy Holly's only certification is Gold for the Album "the Buddy Holly Story:.

2)Another obvious and much-repeated example:

http://www.odt.co.nz/entertainment/music/228919/gloriously-indulgent-orgy-iron-butterfly

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/dorman-381477-bass-butterfly.html

http://www.today.com/news/iron-butterfly-bassist-dies-70-1C7704497

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/iron-butterfly-bassist-lee-dorman-dead-at-70-20121222

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/12/22/iron-butterfly-bassist-lee-dorman-dies-at-age-70/

The RIAA meanwhile, have certified it as "quadruple platinum"(ie. more than 4 million, but fewer than 5 million)

Intriguingly, Billboard says: http://web.archive.org/web/20080116110003/http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/yearend_chart_display.jsp?f=The+Billboard+200&g=Year-end+Albums&year=1969

While, the number 5 album has subsequently been certified as 8xplatinum.

Eight million is of course what IAGDV sold in less than one year, http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/220748/Iron-Butterfly-In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida/overview

...but not according to the RIAA.

RIAA certification is not the beginning and end, nor is it even representative. This article needs to reflect that. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 197.88.26.12 (talk) 15:19, 25 April 2015 (UTC)

elton john/goodbye yellow brick rd

WHY IS IT THAT ELTONS GBYR IS NOT CREDITED WITH 16 X PLATINUM WHEN THE RIAA OWN RULES STATE THAT EACH DISC COUNTS TOWARDS ITS TOTAL BUT WHEN IT COMES TO GBYR IT DOES NOT HAPPEN, AND WHY DOES THE LION KING SOUNDTRACK NOT CREDITED TO EJ WHEN HE SINGS THE ONLY SONGS ON THE ABLUM WHEN IT SEEMS ANYBODY ELSE E.G. THE BEEGEES/WITNEY HOUSTON YOU EITHER SHARE THE ALBUM WITH OTHER ARTISTS WHO SING THERE OWN SONGS OR DONT EVEN WRITE ANY SONGS ON THESE SOUNTRACKS YET GET THE SALES CREDITS YET ELTON WRITES AND SINGS ALL THE SONGS WITH TIM RICE ON THE LION KING YET CANNOT GET ANY CERDIT FOR ANYTHING202.180.118.24 (talk) 05:02, 13 July 2015 (UTC)

Update

Could someone update section Artists with the most certifications of Gold, Platinum and Multi-Platinum singles? It's really out of date... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 178.36.34.143 (talk) 13:37, 22 September 2015 (UTC)

Physical Singles vs Digital Singles

Shouldn't Physical and digital singles be put separated. The table could be the same but shouldn't they be noted which type are they.

I'm only saying this because there are very few multi-platinum singles (Physical) and zero diamond. As the market collapsed the rules for downloads and streaming changed in order to show the current market but in the past couple of years there are more than 10 diamond singles and thousands of multi-platinum singles. It's not fair to compare 3-5$ singles (or in some cases 8-10$ maxi-singles) to 0.99 downloads or 100 streams that cost even less. It's quite easier for an artist to have a multi-platinum single or a diamond single (as before never a single sold enough to be diamond, though the market is now 90% down). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.138.96.199 (talk) 10:00, 2 December 2015 (UTC)

Thats correct

in 1999 artists got GOLD 500,000 sold singles an reached for sure top 10 of the Hot 100

nowadays there are singles which reach top 100 barely but get gold

Nowadays i can buy a single for 99cents via amazon or iTunes in 1999 i had to buy the whole cd single for 8,99 $ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2.247.240.127 (talk) 20:18, 6 July 2017 (UTC)

Section headings

I've just changed the section headings for the "most certifications" tables. The old titles were unreasonably long and included "as of" dates, which only encourage broken incoming links (when the dates are changed, as happened with the albums table) and/or false information (when the dates are not changed but the content is updated, as happened with the singles table). Also, the albums table now includes Diamond info, but its section heading didn't reflect this fact. The new, simplified headings should be easier to maintain (i.e., shouldn't need changing) in the future. If someone doesn't like my choice(s) of headings, be sure to consider these issues when choosing different names. Oh, and I included {{anchor}}s with old section titles for the albums table that were used here for 2 years or more (because incoming links are more likely to exist for those section titles); this was necessary for the singles table, but not the albums table (no title for that section lasted longer than 18 months or so). - dcljr (talk) 23:19, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Verification of RIAA Certifications

This page seems to have limited information pertaining to verification of RIAA certifications. A quick search of the Web yielded almost no results germane to this topic. Does anyone have and/or know where to find further information? InTheCurve (talk) 03:38, 12 February 2016 (UTC)InTheCurve

The process is explained at http://www.riaa.com/gold-platinum/apply/ . Piriczki (talk) 12:44, 12 February 2016 (UTC)

I read through all of the relevant material on the RIAA site and gave a scan of the website of their third-party verification entity (Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman, LLP; www.grfllp.com). However, I could find no information from the RIAA or the GR&F sites regarding the actual process of aggregating sales data less returns for physical units and/or aggregating digital sales and streams. Essentially, what the RIAA site indicates is that they base their audits on sales data supplied to them by the record label requesting the certification. Does anyone have any information on how the sales data supplied by the record label to the RIAA is monitored and processed? InTheCurve (talk) 14:42, 12 February 2016 (UTC)

It's called accounting. Piriczki (talk) 14:48, 12 February 2016 (UTC)

Certainly! Yet, there is honest accounting and there is dishonest accounting. I'm wondering if anyone has information on existing measures in place by the RIAA and/or a third party to keep dishonest accounting figures from influencing their certifications. InTheCurve (talk) 15:27, 12 February 2016 (UTC)

"Dishonest accounting" can be subject to civil or criminal penalties by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the United States Department of Justice or a state attorney general. While the RIAA is a trade organization that promotes the record industry and is of course biased in its desire to issue more and higher record awards, it is unbiased regarding competition between its member companies which is why it goes through an independent auditing process. Piriczki (talk) 16:05, 12 February 2016 (UTC)

The Beatles 1

On the wiki page for The Beatles 1 album it is listed as having sold 12 million copies in the US and thus being certified 12x platinum as opposed to 10x platinum--EnderAtreides117 (talk) 05:51, 5 April 2017 (UTC)

I corrected the 1 (Beatles album) article. Many albums have sold far more copies than their RIAA award indicates. Piriczki (talk) 11:59, 5 April 2017 (UTC)

certified SINGLES before DOWNLOAD ERA which did not reach top 10

there are singles like

PERSONAL JESUS and i feel you by DEPECHE MODE which sold 500,000 copies but reached only # 28 and # 37 on the hot 100 respectively

MUSE have several singles which never reached hot 100 but have gold and platinum singles

STARLIGHT reached #101 on the hot 100 but got PLATINUM FOR 1,000,000 sold singles — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2.247.240.127 (talk) 20:21, 6 July 2017 (UTC)

overcertified albums

there are over certified albums by mariah carey or u2 which got 10xPLATINUM and 8xPLATINUM

but sold much less

like MUSIC BOX by carey which sold 6 million copies but got DIAMOND — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2.247.240.127 (talk) 20:23, 6 July 2017 (UTC)

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Diamond albums and singles together

I personally think that albums and singles with diamond certificates should be on a separate list.

Any thoughts? Bob3458 (talk) 14:25, 7 December 2017 (UTC)

Requested move 17 October 2018

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: Moved per discussion. (non-admin closure) –Ammarpad (talk) 09:10, 26 October 2018 (UTC)

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Recording Industry Association of America certification → RIAA Certification – I am proposing, rather than taking it upon myself, changing the title of this article to RIAA certification because that’s what it’s more commonly called by media and the general public. Here are some headline examples. Heck, that’s what they even call themselves! Exhibit A. It’s quite obvious what RIAA stands for and that should be left in the lead, but for accessibility (less clunkiness and easier to access “platinum” certifications for those interested) I believe the title should be changed. Trillfendi (talk) 22:28, 17 October 2018 (UTC)

• Support per WP:SHORTFORM. Compare:

  Central Intelligence Agency, but CIA activities in Vietnam, not Central Intelligence Agency activities in Vietnam

  Federal Bureau of Investigation, but FBI files on Elvis Presley, not Federal Bureau of Investigation files on Elvis Presley

bd2412 T 03:40, 18 October 2018 (UTC)

References

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The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Untitled

Why is Minaj at the top of the Most Platinum singles list and out of order? Why does Cardi B have 3 listed for Most Diamond certifications when the associated source lists 2? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:1700:38A0:6550:4869:950A:AFC5:8CBC (talk) 17:26, 17 February 2022 (UTC)