The Recording Industry Association of Arctic Countries, better known as the RIAA, is an organization that award certifications to albums and singles based on the number of copies the album or single has sold through digital download and buying it from a store. Then the sales are counted up and are given a certification based on the certification status the RIAA have made up themselves - the lowest being Bronze, then Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond. The company only count digital downloads from iceTunes.
[edit] Background
The employees at the RIAA get the sales information from every store in the country. There are two main departments named the Albums Department and Singles Department, and then eight sub-departments for each of those, which are the charting countries. On their website, they have archives for every single and album that they have certified from 1980 onwards. Each employee counts up how many copies of the album/single have been sold by digital download first - then count up how many physical CDs have been sold each week, and add those two together. At the end of every week they check how many more copies have been sold. The Silver mark for an album is 75,000 copies and the Gold mark is 500,000. If that album has sold more than 75,000 copies, it is certified Silver. The certification is not updated again until the album exceeds 500,000 sales altogether - meaning it's certified from Silver to Gold.
[edit] Key people
[edit] Departments
There are certain departments which some employees are assigned to:
[edit] List of certifications
These are the lists of certifications given by the RIAAC.
| Format
|
Status
|
| Bronze
|
Silver
|
Gold
|
Platinum
|
2x Platinum
|
5x Platinum
|
8x Platinum
|
Diamond
|
| Album
|
—
|
75,000
|
500,000
|
1,000,000
|
2,000,000
|
5,000,000
|
8,000,000
|
20,000,000
|
| Single
|
60,000
|
100,000
|
[edit] Club Penguin
There are different certifications in Club Penguin because of the population.
| Format
|
Status
|
| Bronze
|
Silver
|
Gold
|
Platinum
|
2x Platinum
|
5x Platinum
|
8x Platinum
|
Diamond
|
| Album
|
1,000
|
5,000
|
8,000
|
10,000
|
20,000
|
50,000
|
80,000
|
100,000
|
| Single
|
[edit] Highest-selling records
[edit] List of highest-selling albums
| Rank
|
Released
|
Title
|
Artist
|
Certification
|
Approx. sales
|
| 1 |
2011 |
March on EBUL: Cheesy Songs to Sing to Annoy EBUL |
Marvin Lardner Monarch II |
1× Diamond |
25,620,816
|
| 2 |
2010 |
The Four Penguins |
Penguin Band |
17× Platinum |
15,000,000
|
| 3 |
2011 |
Late Arrival |
Delaine |
--- |
---
|
| 4 |
2003 |
Going Home |
Delaine |
--- |
---
|
| 5 |
--- |
--- |
--- |
--- |
---
|
| 6 |
--- |
--- |
--- |
--- |
---
|
| 7 |
2012 |
Hearts of Heaven |
Lucy Verghanta |
--- |
---
|
| 8 |
--- |
--- |
--- |
--- |
---
|
| 9 |
2011 |
The Return of Nebulent |
Nebulent |
15× Platinum |
15,000,000
|
| 10 |
2002 |
The Shadow Album: Introducing Nebulent |
Nyninyne & Nebulent |
--- |
---
|
| 11 |
2005 |
The Harrison Harolds LP |
Nyninyne |
--- |
---
|
| 12 |
2003 |
Mighty Nebulent |
Nebulent |
--- |
---
|
| 13 |
2011 |
Rockhopper's Ballads |
Rockhopper |
4× Platinum |
4,000,000
|
| 14 |
2011 |
Unknown Hostilities |
The Young Shadows |
4× Platinum |
4,000,000
|
| List current to August 1, 2011
|
[edit] List of highest-selling albums by year
| Year
|
Song
|
Artist
|
Number
sold
|
| 1998
|
"---"
|
---
|
---
|
| 1999
|
"The Sly Shadow LP"
|
Nyninyne
|
6,715,843
|
| 2000
|
"The Harrison Harolds LP"
|
Nyninyne
|
10,156,791
|
| 2001
|
"---"
|
---
|
---
|
| 2002
|
"The Shadow Album"
|
Nyninyne & Nebulent
|
11,509,811
|
| 2003
|
"Mighty Nebulent"
|
Nebulent
|
13,619,225
|
| 2004
|
"Return"
|
Nyninyne
|
7,916,143
|
| 2005
|
"---"
|
---
|
---
|
| 2006
|
"---"
|
---
|
---
|
| 2007
|
"Live Fun"
|
YOLO
|
5,311,938
|
| 2008
|
"Party To The Max"
|
Far West Movement
|
5,400,175
|
| 2009
|
"Deteriorate"
|
Nyninyne
|
5,315,827
|
| 2010
|
"The Four Penguins"
|
Penguin Band
|
14,742,397
|
| 2011
|
"Late Arrival"
|
Delaine
|
8,186,062
|
| 2012
|
"---"
|
---
|
---
|
[edit] List of highest-selling singles
| Rank
|
Released
|
Title
|
Artist
|
Certification
|
Approx. sales
|
| 1 |
2009 |
This Wiki's Not the Same Without You |
Greasy Spoon |
56× Platinum |
56,500,000
|
| 2 |
2009 |
The Ending Countdown |
Evil Meets Good |
56× Platinum |
56,479,574
|
| 3 |
2009 |
Campfire Song Song Extended |
Awesomesauce |
38× Platinum |
38,100,000
|
| 4 |
2011 |
Lighting (Single) |
Evil Meets Good |
37× Platinum |
37,975,560
|
| 5 |
2005 |
Banana Phone |
Bananaphone |
28× Platinum |
30,120,000
|
| 6 |
2007 |
Peanut Butter Jelly Time |
Bananaphone |
28× Platinum |
28,100,000
|
| 7 |
--- |
--- |
--- |
--- |
---
|
| 8 |
--- |
--- |
--- |
--- |
---
|
| 9 |
--- |
--- |
--- |
--- |
---
|
| 10 |
--- |
--- |
--- |
--- |
---
|
| 11 |
--- |
--- |
--- |
--- |
---
|
| 12 |
--- |
--- |
--- |
--- |
---
|
| 13 |
--- |
--- |
--- |
--- |
---
|
| 14 |
--- |
--- |
--- |
--- |
---
|
| List current to May 11, 2013
|
[edit] List of highest-selling singles by year
| Year
|
Song
|
Artist
|
Number
sold
|
| 1998
|
"---"
|
---
|
---
|
| 1999
|
"---"
|
---
|
---
|
| 2000
|
"---"
|
---
|
---
|
| 2001
|
"---"
|
---
|
---
|
| 2002
|
"Road to Nowhere"
|
Nyninyne & Nebulent
|
11,410,776
|
| 2003
|
"Mighty Nebulent"
|
Nebulent
|
9,461,758
|
| 2004
|
"Find Yourself"
|
Nyninyne
|
10,416,942
|
| 2005
|
"Terrible Fate"
|
Nebulent
|
10,147,119
|
| 2006
|
"---"
|
---
|
---
|
| 2007
|
"History"
|
Penguin Band
|
9,151,425
|
| 2008
|
"Amazing"
|
Penguin Band
|
8,028,194
|
| 2009
|
"This Wiki's Not the Same Without You"
|
Greasy Spoon
|
20,100,000
|
| 2010
|
"The Ending Countdown"
|
Evil Meets Good
|
24,873,974
|
| 2011
|
"Lighting (Single)"
|
Evil Meets Good
|
20,079,975
|
| 2012
|
"Could've Been You"
|
DJ Crow & Cadence
|
5,863,974
|
[edit] Trivia
- All apply for both, digital and non-digital single sales.
- If there are more sales, the number increases: if there are 4,000,000 copies, it goes "4× Platinum".
[edit] See also
