Talk:RIAA certification

Why it is said in the records section that 2Pac only sold 36.5m units when it is written in the 1st paragraph of "2Pac" article that he sold over 75m worldwide including over 50m in the US? Yornitsuj 15:40, 15 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

just out of curiosity, has there ever been a diamond album?

nevermind, wasnt using brain. or google.

I don't think this is a stub any more, but it's still short. It would be good to have current details of the thresholds for various countries, and the names of awarding bodies for other countries where one exists. Andrewa 00:11, 31 Aug 2003 (UTC)

I should say, my comment above was made when this page was called Gold album, as possibly was the comment below from Wshun (I don't know how to tell exactly when a page was renamed, or is it just I don't know or is there noplace to look?). Anyway, we now have two pages, this one has become (obviously) a page about gold albums etc in the USA, the original page has reverted to being a more general article. Andrewa 21:05, 31 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Found where to look! You go to the redirect page (go back to the redirect page from the new article via the 'redirect ed from' is one way to get there), go to its 'talk' page, again go back via the 'redirected from' link, and look at the page history. This is no longer necessary for this page as the original has been recreated. But the info is there. Andrewa 21:11, 31 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Too US-centric! Information for other countries? Wshun

Well the third A in RIAA stands for America. Maybe there should be another page for international record rankings? As far as I know, the RIAA doesn't rank internationally. Lypheklub 06:46, Aug 31, 2003 (UTC)

Music recording sales certification discusses certification in general (worldwide). Will remove the proposed merge tag to Gold album (which now redirects to Music recording sales certification). --Lph 18:31, 30 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Merge

Should this article be merged with Single certification or vice versa? --Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 08:03, 3 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

This article really needs to be checked for accuracy. I know for a fact that Mariah Carey has 17 platinum singles, not 8. Just suggesting.

Try Merging this data

Totals are derived from cumulative album sales totals (U.S. only) Source RIAA

Artist	*Units()**
BEATLES, THE	168.5
PRESLEY, ELVIS	116.5
LED ZEPPELIN	107.5
BROOKS, GARTH	105.0
EAGLES	89.0
JOEL, BILLY	78.5
PINK FLOYD	73.5
STREISAND, BARBRA	70.5
JOHN, ELTON	69.0
AC/DC	66.0
AEROSMITH	65.5
ROLLING STONES, THE	64.5
SPRINGSTEEN, BRUCE	61.5
MADONNA	60.0
STRAIT, GEORGE	60.0
JACKSON, MICHAEL	59.5
CAREY, MARIAH	57.5
METALLICA	57.0
VAN HALEN	56.5
HOUSTON, WHITNEY	54.0
U2	50.5

(*)Certified Units in Millions Edited article to correct numbers for Pink Floyd's gold, platinum, and multiplatinum albums.

Album Figures

Am I reading this correct, or does it state that Elvis had 97 Gold albums? Hackajar 09:16, 5 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

On another note, shouldn't Rush be on this list somewhere? They have at least 19 gold/platinum/multiplatnum records certified by the RIAA.

Platinum to Diamond

It says that The Eagles' Greatest hits had 29X platinum. Why isn't it 2X diamond or something? —Akrabbim^talk 14:43, 6 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Because Diamond is not a precise certificaiton, like if the album would have sold 20 000 000 copies it would have the same certification than another that sold 29 000 000 copies, even if this one has sale 9 million times more. That's why they use the platinum system for high selling album, like they could use the gold one, thats even more precise but numbers would be too high. yornitsuj 10:35, 24 october 2007 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.217.75.180 (talk)

I agree that there should be a diamond column. Piyush90 14:05, 11 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Singles

Under "Artists with most Gold, Platinum and Multi-platinum singles" #10 Billy Joel is said to have 1 gold and yet is ahead of #11 Aretha Franklin who has 15 gold albums. I'm guessing this is some kind of typo however I was unable to find a comprehensive source for anything under the singles section. Hopefully someone whit more knowledge and skills in this domain can fix this. ASA-IRULE 22:07, 7 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Total BS?

This page claims that Insane Clown Posse's The Tempest is the best selling album in the United States, with a ridiculous number of albums sold. Obviously a malicious edit; any way to revert to what it was before? 71.108.124.162 01:59, 6 February 2007 (UTC)A skeptic[reply]

For future issues about ICP see RIAA Gold and Platinum Search for Insane Clown Posse unless provided a different source. The Tempest does not even appear in this database.R00m c 05:34, 28 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

While that was obviously a malicious edit... Why aren't they even mentioned? They do have 2 Platinum and 4 Gold RIAA certified albums. Does this page only cater to mainstream artists? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.243.29.81 (talk) 19:21, 7 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

vandalism of the best-selling albums table

The Eagles are mentioned as selling 29 million copies of Hell Freezes Over (which sounds right to me, btw; last I checked it was 28 million); but they're not even in the best selling album table. That table really needs to be checked over for vandalism. 67.170.212.250 02:01, 12 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Eminem as of this day does not have a Diamond certified album, but there are several pages on wiki which state so, none with any source. Marshall Mathers LP and Eminem Show both sold many albums, but is only certified 9x platinum in the US as of June 2007.

According to RIAA's own site, they list all the Diamond awards. Eminem is DEFINITELY not on the list of Diamond awards, and the Eagles are not only listed under RIAA's top selling artists (at #5, I believe with 91 million units), but listed #1 in top selling albums (EAGLES/THEIR GREATEST HITS 1971 - 1975 at 29 million copies), and have three Diamond awards: EAGLES/THEIR GREATEST HITS 1971 - 1975, HOTEL CALIFORNIA, & EAGLES GREATEST HITS VOLUME II. Further, Def Leppard isn't listed, even though they appear twice in the RIAA's Top 100 Albums for PYROMANIA and HYSTERIA, both of which are also Diamond certified, and have sold 35 million certified units; Eminem only 27 million. So maybe he belongs on the list, but it's clear "Eminem" has been stuck in there alphabetically between "Chicago" and "Clapton, Eric".

This page is already locked from edits by unregistered users, so what else can we do? Obviously even locked pages aren't immune to vandalism. I'm going to change it later today and try to watch it closely. Besides, the page needs to be updated monthly as the RIAA release their current data. --Chÿna 21:14, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

Diamond Awards

Just because an artist sells over 10 million copies doesn't mean they are issued a Diamond certification. There is criteria that has to be met, and it is up to the Artist's people to submit the Artist, pay a fee, prove sales criteria, etc. to the RIAA to receive the certification. So saying that an Artist is an RIAA Certified Award winner is FAR different than how many copies an album, single, video, or even total units, have sold!! Please don't assume the Artist is a Diamond award winner based on copies sold or post accordingly. If you'd like to know how many Diamond Awards were handed out, go to the RIAA's website and look. There aren't that many, and Eminem is NOT one of them. --Chÿna 21:14, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

Top selling artists

Are these numbers correct? (in millions, US only?)

Beatles, The 351

Presley, Elvis 326.5

Brooks, Garth 312

Led Zeppelin 301

Eagles 245.5

Joel, Billy 206

Pink Floyd 167.5

The source mentioned other data.... Christo jones 15:39, 16 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Why some bestselling albums are not in the list?

I'm sorry, but where is Thriller (album) by Michael Jackson in Diamond sales part? AFAIK it is one of best selling album of all time both all over the world and in USA, isn't it? And where is noted above Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) by The Eagles?

It is unclear for me what is this whole Diamond sales part about if there is no such (and maybe some others) best selling albums there? 77.120.129.111 00:02, 4 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Why include the top-selling artist list?

There is no need for this list here. The information is at List of best-selling music artists. This article should be about the subject of RIAA certifications (what the levels are, how they're given, etc.) Lists of artist and their records abound on WP. Hult041956 (talk) 22:01, 12 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

thriller 25

As you probably already know Thriller 25 has been released and billboard are saying that its sales in america will be added to those of the original album.[1] This means that the platinum X27 will increase soon. Realist2 (talk) 23:29, 25 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Limp Bizkit - Chocolate Starfish

The RIAA website has this album selling 6 million copies, this article lists it as selling 19. The band total of 54 million looks a bit fishy as well. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.240.42.138 (talk) 06:07, 8 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Multi-disc albums

Counting each disc as a separate unit if the set is over 100 minutes in length may be the current rule, but it wasn't in the nineties when they first started counting double albums twice. Pink Floyd's The Wall, for example, is about 81 minutes, but it's double counted. It went from 11x platinum to 22x platinum in 1997. 74.77.222.188 (talk) 00:37, 25 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]