Highest RIAA US Certified Male & Female Artists

[thegreatdivine]

*** Rihanna and Drake lead the female and male lists respectively. It's also worthy to note that this list ONLY counts/contains albums/singles that have been CERTIFIED by the RIAA so far. Some artists on these lists are undercertified.

[kimberly]

I'm pretty sure Ariana Grande is either #10 or very near at this point, definitely below Barbra and above Celine Dion. I saw a thread on Twitter listing her eligibility for certifications, and it added up to 77M+ units. Notable updates include:

thank u, next (single)
currently platinum
eligible: 5x platinum (5M)

7 rings
eligible: 3x platinum (3M)

break up with your gf, im bored
eligible: platinum (1M)

breathin
eligible: 2x platinum (2M)

Best Mistake
eligible: platinum (1M)

imagine
eligible: platinum (1M)

Let Me Love You
eligible: platinum (1M)

Santa Tell Me
eligible: platinum (1M)

Eligible for Gold: "everytime", "needy", "NASA", "sweetener", "the light is coming", "get on your knees" & more

[kierz7]

thegreatdivine

Even though Rihanna is #1 among Females, she is still under-certified by ~40M units. She's at +235-240M certified units overall.

Drake is also under-certified somewhat as his his certifications were first updated between the success of "God's Plan" and "Nice For What" I believe, so the latter half of the 'Scorpion' era and accompanying features are missing.

[areyoureadytojump]

Madonna should be at 20xP for singles:

2. Like A Virgin Gold 1,000,000 (eligible for 1xp) - old certification rules
3. Crazy For You Gold 1,000,000 (eligible for 1xp) - old certification rules
4. Angel/Into The Groove Gold 1,000,000 (could be eligible for 1xp?) - old certification rules

Gold back in 1985 was for 1 million copies shipped.

[thegreatdivine]

Mar 24, 2019 12:00:38 GMT -5 areyoureadytojump said:

Madonna should be at 20xP for singles:

2. Like A Virgin Gold 1,000,000 (eligible for 1xp) - old certification rules
3. Crazy For You Gold 1,000,000 (eligible for 1xp) - old certification rules
4. Angel/Into The Groove Gold 1,000,000 (could be eligible for 1xp?) - old certification rules

Gold back in 1985 was for 1 million copies shipped.

Yeah. A lot of artists on both lists are undercertified. Especially older acts with more expansive discographies. Thoae artists likely have certain albums/singles that have moved more units than have been certified. These lists ONLY account for singles/albums that have been certified by the RIAA.

[thegreatdivine]

Mar 24, 2019 8:24:55 GMT -5 kierz7 said:

thegreatdivine

Even though Rihanna is #1 among Females, she is still under-certified by ~40M units. She's at +235-240M certified units overall.

Drake is also under-certified somewhat as his his certifications were first updated between the success of "God's Plan" and "Nice For What" I believe, so the latter half of the 'Scorpion' era and accompanying features are missing.

Not somewhat, lol. He's still massively undercertifed. Let me break it down for you: God's Plan is eligible for 11x Platinum, but it's still certified at 8x Platinum. Nice for What is eligible for 6x Platinum but it's still certified at 3x Platinum. I'm Upset is currently eligible for 3x Platinum certification, but it hasn't even been certified yet. In My Feelings is eligible for 6x Platinum certification, hasn't been certified at all yet. Nonstop is eligible for 4x Platinum certification, hasn't been certified at all yet. Mob Ties, Don't Matter to Me, Elevate and Emotionless are all eligible for 1x Platinum. Diplomatic Immunity is eligible for Gold certfication. All haven't been certified yet. That's for songs off Scorpion/where Drake serves as the lead artist.

For features he did last year: No Stylist and Bigger Than You are both eligible for 1x Platinum certification. Both haven't been certified. Yes Indeed is eligible for 4x Platinum certification. Is currently certified at 3x Platinum. Walk It Talk It is eligible for 4x Platinum certification. Is currently certified at 2x Platinum. Look Alive is eligible for 6x Platinum certification. Is currently certified at 3x Platinum. MIA is eligible for 2x Platinum certification. Hasn't been certified yet.

The 5 last songs off Views that haven't been certified Platinum have all reached Platinum certification eligibility now. 8 other songs off More Life have reached at least 1x Platinum certification. I haven't checked for other songs off the rest of his discography, but he's got at least 8-10 million units that haven't been certified across songs off those other albums.

His album count is also currently at 34x Platinum certification eligibility, but only 18 million album units have been certified so when he updates EVERYTHING, he'll move up by to at least 290 million certified units overall in the US. It's really crazy.

Him and Rihanna have a massive lead on everybody else. At least Rihanna has certified her worldwide record count at 230 million units. If she updates everything, it'll move to about 280-285 million units overall. Drake is MASSIVELY undercertifed. He's only certified 107 million units so far but he'll cross 300 million overall worldwide units once he certifies everything. Rihanna is the highest selling individual artist based on certified units righr now, but Drake will surpass her when he certifies everything. The both of them are really the Mom and Dad of music, lol. Really impressive careers.

[areyoureadytojump]

Mar 24, 2019 13:40:03 GMT -5 thegreatdivine said:

Mar 24, 2019 12:00:38 GMT -5 areyoureadytojump said:

Madonna should be at 20xP for singles:

2. Like A Virgin Gold 1,000,000 (eligible for 1xp) - old certification rules
3. Crazy For You Gold 1,000,000 (eligible for 1xp) - old certification rules
4. Angel/Into The Groove Gold 1,000,000 (could be eligible for 1xp?) - old certification rules

Gold back in 1985 was for 1 million copies shipped.

Yeah. A lot of artists on both lists are undercertified. Especially older acts with more expansive discographies. Thoae artists likely have certain albums/singles that have moved more units than have been certified. These lists ONLY account for singles/albums that have been certified by the RIAA.

Yes, I know all of this.

What I am saying, you counted 500,000 for these 3 singles when they were certified Gold for 1 million units.

Madonna's RIAA certified singles tally is 20xP. Not 18.5xP.

[spitfire]

Where can you check the RIAA certifications and what's eligible for platinum or diamond status?

[thegreatdivine]

Mar 24, 2019 14:41:16 GMT -5 spitfire said:

Where can you check the RIAA certifications and what's eligible for platinum or diamond status?

riaa.com.

[dgarcia3377]

Is there a list for highest certified bands/groups?

[TakeMe]

Mar 24, 2019 8:24:55 GMT -5 kierz7 said:

thegreatdivine

Even though Rihanna is #1 among Females, she is still under-certified by ~40M units. She's at +235-240M certified units overall.

Drake is also under-certified somewhat as his his certifications were first updated between the success of "God's Plan" and "Nice For What" I believe, so the latter half of the 'Scorpion' era and accompanying features are missing.

Is Beyoncé under-certified?
It’s crazy given how hyped she is, she isn’t even in the top 10. Heck with all the hype she gets I would’ve expected her to be No.1 on the list🤣

[kanimal]

I've always been confused by this breakdown, which I've seen referenced on some Twitter accounts. The RIAA's official list/record doesn't include features, but this list seems to include them?

It also seems to be treating single certifications = album certifications, which doesn't make sense. Per the RIAA's methodology, 1 album = 10 singles. So if Rihanna has 22.5 million in album certifications, she should actually get 225 million units for the purpose of this chart.

[areyoureadytojump]

Mar 25, 2019 10:36:05 GMT -5 TakeMe said:

Mar 24, 2019 8:24:55 GMT -5 kierz7 said:

thegreatdivine

Even though Rihanna is #1 among Females, she is still under-certified by ~40M units. She's at +235-240M certified units overall.

Drake is also under-certified somewhat as his his certifications were first updated between the success of "God's Plan" and "Nice For What" I believe, so the latter half of the 'Scorpion' era and accompanying features are missing.

Is Beyoncé under-certified?
It’s crazy given how hyped she is, she isn’t even in the top 10. Heck with all the hype she gets I would’ve expected her to be No.1 on the list🤣

Beyonce is very under-certified.

Some artists care, some artists don't. Beyonce doesn't.

[areyoureadytojump]

MJ vs The Eagles

www.billboard.com/articles/business/8503903/eagles-vs-michael-jackson-questions-linger-best-selling-album-all-time

Eagles vs. Michael Jackson: Questions Linger Over Best-Selling Album of All Time
3/25/2019 by Ed Christman

Eight months before HBO’s Leaving Neverland documentary raised new questions about Michael Jackson’s legacy, executives at the late pop star’s record label and estate were pondering another unexpected -- and unrelated -- development involving his business.

Jackson’s 1982 album, Thriller (33 million copies sold), had just lost the status it held for almost a decade as the best-selling album of all time in the United States, ceding the title to the Eagles’ Their Greatest Hits 1971–1975 (38 million), according to the RIAA.

Though the two albums have jockeyed for the top spot since the 1980s, trading the lead five times, executives from both Jackson’s estate and Sony Music were stunned by the news that Their Greatest Hits had gained nine new platinum certifications in a single day from the RIAA for the years 2006 to 2018 -- meaning 9 million additional U.S. album sales had been made or discovered over those 12 years.

“After Thriller being the recognized No. 1 album seller in the United States for a decade, we were obviously surprised and concerned when we were overtaken despite all metrics we use stating otherwise,” Sony Music Entertainment CEO Rob Stringer said in a statement earlier in 2019, before the documentary premiered. “All we are asking for is transparency in the process so we can understand how sales numbers changed so dramatically at such short notice.”

Sony’s questions arose due to its own calculations, based on Nielsen Music data, that Their Greatest Hits had sold just 1.3 million units since 2006, with streams and track sales bringing the total to 2.3 million album equivalent units -- 6.7 million units short of the RIAA’s figure.

Billboard found at least one reason for the big uptick: The data team at Warner Music Group, the Eagles’ label, had undertaken an exhaustive forensic search to find all sales and royalty reports dating back to 1976, when the album was first issued, sources say. To retrieve the data, WMG’s team visited Iron Mountain, a renowned document-management company that stores historic objects and files in underground protected vaults, and interviewed former label financial executives to ensure they had correctly interpreted the sales and royalties numbers found there. The record company then provided the documentation to the RIAA for certification on Aug. 20, 2018. The RIAA told Billboard that the certification was approved by its auditor, Gelfand Rennert & Feldman.

Jackson estate co-executor and Ziffren Brittenham partner/head of music John Branca is skeptical. “When you review the analysis of the [Eagles] record’s performance over the last 20 years, this sudden certification of newly discovered albums that were uncounted calls into question the accuracy of the RIAA certifications,” he said in January. “Record companies regularly restrict audits of sales to a three-year period. I’ve never seen an audit that goes back 20 years.”

WMG’s efforts show one way that investing in data-management technology can pay off for music companies. It’s also a reminder that sales or streams spikes for a certain song or artist may reflect sophisticated efforts behind the scenes to boost numbers, even legitimately, rather than an organic shift in consumer behavior.

There are plenty of other reasons that Nielsen’s data doesn’t match the RIAA’s. For example, Nielsen didn’t exist before 1991, while the RIAA has been certifying platinum albums since 1976 -- the same year Their Greatest Hits was released. Nielsen also counts sales, while the RIAA counts shipments, regardless of whether they are ever sold.

Nielsen also doesn’t count sales that occur at concerts or through artist and label websites unless they are reported, nor did it track sales from TV marketing, mail orders or record clubs until later in its existence. It’s also possible that WMG uncovered Eagles streams from before Nielsen started tracking streaming in 2015. Nielsen also has some holes in its data due to title consolidation -- bringing multiple versions of an album with different bar codes together for tabulation purposes.

This isn’t the first time that Eagles certifications have frustrated Sony and the Jackson estate. Their Greatest Hits was certified 14 times platinum in December 1993; less than two years later, in June 1995, it was certified 22 times platinum, implying 8 million new sales during a period where Nielsen calculated sales of only about 1 million.

In 2009, the last time Billboard examined the issue, the RIAA said it couldn’t immediately explain that discrepancy. But sources say that WMG had done a similar analysis of the Eagles’ entire sales history to earn the platinum burst in the ’90s.

“The notion that they can go back 10, 15, 20 or 30 years and find units that were never counted before is absurd,” says one executive in the Jackson/Sony camp. “They reviewed these records before. Why didn’t they find those uncounted records then?”

One answer: WMG’s data systems lagged behind those of other major labels in the ’90s. “I don’t believe the earlier certifications were done properly,” says a source familiar with WMG’s efforts. “This was comprehensive and accurate, and the auditor agreed.”

[areyoureadytojump]

Mar 25, 2019 10:16:55 GMT -5 dgarcia3377 said:

Is there a list for highest certified bands/groups?

Look here:

www.riaa.com/gold-platinum/?tab_active=awards_by_artist#search_section

[MWLJ]

I feel as if Britney is under certified in the singles department. If updated it could move her much closer to the top 10 (but not in it with Adele right there lol).

[arg991]

Mar 25, 2019 20:28:24 GMT -5 MWLJ said:

I feel as if Britney is under certified in the singles department. If updated it could move her much closer to the top 10 (but not in it with Adele right there lol).

Britney’s way under-certified. None and I mean none of her biggest singles have been certified. Added in with the new formula which I still hate and in the top 10 without a doubt. I mean she’s got four three million singles not certified, several two million singles not certfied and countless platinum and gold singles. Let’s nlt even talk about albums. I don’t know what her label is doing.

[ahmiizafii]

Why are videos not counted for Ed Sheeran.?
He is like the biggest artist on YouTube.

[areyoureadytojump]

^The "videos" posted are for certified dvd/vhs releases. Very few are certified today:

www.riaa.com/gold-platinum/?tab_active=default-award&ar=&ti=&lab=&genre=&format=Video+Longform&date_option=release&from=&to=&award=&type=&category=&adv=SEARCH#search_section

You Tube videos are included with digital single certifications.

[spitfire]

Mar 24, 2019 21:52:41 GMT -5 thegreatdivine said:

Mar 24, 2019 14:41:16 GMT -5 spitfire said:

Where can you check the RIAA certifications and what's eligible for platinum or diamond status?

riaa.com.

I've checked riaa.com and it shows what's been certified but how do I see what's eligible for certifications but not been certified?

[thegreatdivine]

Mar 26, 2019 8:55:23 GMT -5 spitfire said:

Mar 24, 2019 21:52:41 GMT -5 thegreatdivine said:

riaa.com.

I've checked riaa.com and it shows what's been certified but how do I see what's eligible for certifications but not been certified?

Oh, you calculate that on your own. You can keep track of streams/sales to do that. There isn't an official site or place that holds figures for singles/albums yet to be certified. 

[areyoureadytojump]

^Plus he can look in the 2019 YTD thread for totals:

pulsemusic.proboards.com/thread/183361/2019-ytd-album-sales-asib?page=1&scrollTo=6960541