Top Twenty Record Artists Based on Record Sales
An artist knows their album has done well if it goes platinum. But what exactly does that mean? For an album to go platinum it would have to sell at least one million units. But, as well, it must go through a process of certification to prove that this number of copies have been sold for it to get the award. In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America, known as the RIAA, collects this information. It is this group that must be paid by the record company to undergo an investigation into the sales of an album and decide if it makes the million plus mark. This can be done by auditing the recording labels books, checking royalty statements, and checking the places that the albums are sold to. They do not count albums that are waiting in stores to be sold, only those that have already been sold to the public.
The certifications levels are quite easy to remember. If an album sells more than a half a million units, then it is a gold album. If it sells more than a million units, it is a platinum album and if it sells more than ten million units, it is a diamond album. Many albums are referred to as multi-platinum. That means it has sold multiple millions of units of the one album. This American association also has a special certification program for albums that have at least half of their contents in Spanish. In this case, one hundred thousand units sold would be awarded an Oro album, two hundred thousand units gets a Platino album and four hundred thousand units gets a Multi-Platino.
If the album has two discs and is over one hundred minutes long, it will be counted as two albums, and so two sales. The means it is easier to meet the one million mark. But if the two-disc set is under one hundred minutes, even by one minute, then it is counted as one unit when racking up the sales numbers. In the United States, the best selling album of all time is The Eagles’ Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975). It went platinum an amazing twenty nine times.
The top twenty recording artists who have sold the most albums, as of the middle of the summer of 2006, based on the numbers tallied, which would have been in millions of albums, begin with the Beatles. They have sold the most albums in America, with a total of one hundred and sixty nine million. Their total sales are significantly higher than the number two, Elvis Presley, whose total sales are one hundred eighteen and a half million. This is followed closely with Garth Brooks and Led Zeppelin, both of whom are still over a hundred million units. Next on the list is The Eagles, Billy Joel and Pink Floyd and Barbara Streisand, each of who sold over seventy million units. They are followed by Elton John, AC/DC, Aerosmith, the Rolling Stones, Madonna, George Strait, Bruce Springsteen, Mariah Carey and Michael Jackson; all of who had over sixty million units. Metallica, Van Halen and Whitney Houston had over fifty million units sold.
When it comes to singles, many of the top ten album artists show up again. Elvis Presley had the most Multi-Platinum singles. There were seven of them. Mariah Carey had the most platinum singles of any female artist. The Beatles had the most gold singles of any group. Janet Jackson was the only female artist to have twenty-six gold singles. These are all quite impressive accomplishments for these artists.
