Her 64 include albums, digital songs, ringtones, videos
By Erik Pederson
Put a championship ring on it: Beyonce was far and away the queen of gold and platinum sales milestones during the past decade.
The RIAA on Wednesday released a compilation of its awards for 2000-09, and the heavily Grammy-ed songstress leads the field with 64 certifications, including albums, digital songs, master ringtones and music videos. The one-time Destiny's Child singer also led the league in ringtone certifications with 19.
Meanwhile, a generation after their creative peak -- and breakup -- the Eagles continue to wing past sales milestones, topping all other groups in total gold and platinum awards with 48. Fellow '70s breakout act Michael Jackson led male solo artists with 44.
The list only covers music released during the decade.
Three albums from disparate genres tied for highest certification at 11 times platinum: 'N Sync's "No Strings Attached" (2000), Shania Twain's "Up!" (2002) and Outkast's "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" (2003).
A pair of 2008 smashes led the digital categories: Flo Rida's "Low" was the decade's highest-certified digital song at quintuple platinum, and Lil Wayne's "Lollipop" led phone tones at five times platinum. Both, of course, also are the all-time record holders.
A gold award is presented for sales of 500,000 albums, digital songs or ringtones, and platinum is recognized at the 1 million mark. Each multiplatinum award is counted as a separate certification. A music video goes gold at 25,000 units, platinum at 50,000 and multiplatinum for every 50,000 units after that; the milestones for longform videos are 50,000, 100,000 and 200,000-plus.
"We've seen a decade of major music milestones and extraordinary artist achievements as part of our historic Gold and Platinum program," RIAA chairman and CEO Mitch Bainwol said. "The names, songs and albums on our list are the decade's best and are etched in our music DNA."
A few highlights from the decade:
-- The digital single award was introduced in October 2004. Nearly a year later, Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl" becomes the first platinum download.
-- The master ringtone award debuted in June 2006. The Black Eyed Peas, Chamillionaire, D4L and T-Pain earned the RIAA's first multiplatinum ringtone certifications.
-- On Jan. 10, 2007, Daniel Powter's "Bad Day" goes double-platinum to become the first multiplatinum digital download.
The RIAA's certification program launched in 1958, when Perry Como's single "Catch a Falling Star" became the first-ever gold record; the "Oklahoma!" soundtrack was certified as the first gold album four months later. The platinum award debuted in 1976, with Johnnie Taylor's "Disco Lady" being the first single to snag the award and the Eagles' "Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975)" the first album. The latter is tied with Michael Jackson's "Thriller" as the best-selling album of all time in the U.S., at 29 times platinum.
Fueled by then-nascent MTV, the music video certifications were established in 1981.
A complete list of RIAA certification leaders from 2000-09 can be found on the next page.
RIAA CERTIFICATION LEADERS FROM 2000-09
Most album certifications Male solo artist: George Strait, 29 Group: Nickelback, 25 Female solo artist: Britney Spears, 23
Most digital song certifications Female solo artist: Taylor Swift, 25 Male solo artist: Kanye West, 19 Group: Linkin Park, 13 Highest-certified album Group: 'N Sync, "No Strings Attached"; Outkast, "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below"; 11 times platinum Female solo artist: "Up!" Shania Twain (UMG/Mercury Nashville); 11 times platinum Male solo artist: "Confessions," Usher (LaFace/Jive); 10 times platinum
Highest-certified digital song Male solo artist: "Low," Flo Rida, five times platinum Female solo artist: "Just Dance," Lady Gaga; "Love Story," Taylor Swift; four times platinum Group: "Viva La Vida," Coldplay (EMI/Capitol), and "How to Save a Life," the Fray (Sony/Epic); three times platinum
Highest-certified master ringtone Male solo artist: "Lollipop," Lil Wayne; five times multiplatinum Female solo artist: "Irreplaceable," Beyonce; three times multiplatinum Group: "Laffy Taffy," DL4; "Lips of an Angel," Hinder; and "Party Like a Rockstar," Shop Boyz; three times multiplatinum
Most digital song certifications Female solo artist: Taylor Swift, 25 Male solo artist: Kanye Westm, 19 Group: Linkin Park, 13
Most master ringtone certifications Female solo artist: Beyonce, 19 Male solo artist: T.I., 15
George Strait, Taylor Swift, Shania Twain Earn Decade's Top RIAA Certifications
February 17, 2010
George Strait, Taylor Swift and Shania Twain have earned top certifications from the RIAA for music released between 2000 and 2009. Strait ranked first for the most gold and platinum certifications with a total of 29. Swift topped the list of the most digital song certifications with a total of 25. Her "Love Story" also tied with Lady Gaga's "Just Dance" for highest-certified digital song by a female artist. It reached quadruple platinum for 4 million paid downloads. Twain's 2002 album, Up!, was the highest-certified album by a female artist at 11-times platinum, signifying 11 million units shipped. In addition, the Eagles were recognized for having the most total certifications, with 48, including cumulative album, digital song, master ringtone and music video certifications.
Like I posted in another thread; it is dumb that the RIAA insists on counting Up! as double sales (or shipped). They did not ship 11 million of that album. It really screws up who actually had the top certified album of the decade for a female. Falsely inflates Up!
Like I posted in another thread; it is dumb that the RIAA insists on counting Up! as double sales (or shipped). They did not ship 11 million of that album. It really screws up who actually had the top certified album of the decade for a female. Falsely inflates Up!
I agree!
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Tommy's #1 SHANIA TWAIN SuperSite shaniasupersite.com Our eyes are closed, but we're not asleep, We're wide awake beneath the sheets
The 2000s were a great decade for country music. Three of country's biggest stars were among the top sellers of the past ten years, according to the RIAA -- the folks responsible for certifying gold and platinum selling discs and downloads.
George Strait holds the record for male artist with the most album certifications from 2000 to 2009. The top female artist in that category is Britney Spears, with Nickelback taking the top spot in the group category.
Shania Twain's album, 'Up,' was the highest-certified platinum album for a female artist, selling more than 11 million albums. The only other artists to achieve that many platinum certifications are the groups *NSYNC, with 'No Strings Attached,' and OutKast's 'Speaker Boxxx/The Love Below.' which both also had album sales in excess of 11 million. Usher had the highest-certified platinum album for a male artist, with more than ten million albums sold.
Taylor Swift, already named the top-selling digital artist in history, holds two distinctions since her breakout hit, 'Tim McGraw,' that only hit airwaves in 2006. In addition to being the female artist with the most song certifications, with 25, she beat out the group, Linkin Park, with 13, and her MTV Award nemesis, Kanye West, with 19.
Taylor also tied Lady Gaga as the female artist with the highest certified digital song, with her mega-hit, 'Love Story' matching Lady Gaga's 'Just Dance,' at more than four million downloads. Flo Rida's single, 'Low' beat the ladies with five million, while Coldplay came in just behind the pair at three million, with their smash single, 'Viva La Vida.'
All three country stars continue to shine in the new decade as well. Taylor is continuing on her worldwide, sold-out Fearless tour, as well as working on a new album. George Strait just released his 38th album, 'Twang,' which includes three songs George penned for the project. And Shania just spent time in the Caribbean, writing songs for an upcoming project.
Like I posted in another thread; it is dumb that the RIAA insists on counting Up! as double sales (or shipped). They did not ship 11 million of that album. It really screws up who actually had the top certified album of the decade for a female. Falsely inflates Up!
I agree!
If you agree with Butters, then why did you post this? No matter what you guys think. I am very happy for Shania for this success. She earned it. Like it or not, Up! is diamond. The only artist to have diamond albums back to back to back.
Tommy posted it because it is a news item! He does not have to agree with everything that is stated in a story; that would make his postings very slanted.
And we all are happy for Shania's success. But some of us don't like how the RIAA counts albums. It in my opinion takes away from the success of an album when its sales are so grossly inflated.
You say that she is the only artist to have back to back to back diamonds, but because of the silly rule of counting her each Up! cd 2x, most people will not really think that she actually had back to back to back diamond awards because in reality she did not! The silly rule makes it look like she did.
If she had 4 CD's in the Up! case, then we would be saying that this CD should be certified as 22x in sales?? So stupid if you ask me.
Shania sells well on her own and her other Cd's earned the diamond awards. Up! sold well, but it does not deserve the diamond award because it contained two discs instead of one.
It is what it is. RIAA counted as a double album as 11 million and Soundscan counted it as 5.8 million as a single. Like on Come on Over RIAA 20 million and Soundscan 15 something million. So, RIAA and Soundscan are a little different on sales. Its also strange too. But both of them said that Shania is the best selling female country artist of all time. I also read on that Wiki that Come on Over in 22 million, but its not. People can write anything they want on those sites and its not a good source on information.
Well, I agree that counting one album as double is strange. I could understand if she had two different discs inside but the album consists of two discs with the same songs. I can understand – the music is different and it isn’t the remix as Shania said but the vocals are equal so… But RIAA accepted rules and rules must be obeyed. And the reason why RIAA and Soundscan are different is that RIAA counts purchase made by stores and Soundscan counts real sales i.e. how much people bought. The organizations look at the same things from different angles which is good.