Your Favorite Music Albums: How They are Rated

When you skim through CDs at a music store, do you notice how some records are grouped as multi-platinum or gold records? Ever wonder what they mean? Sure, platinum and gold are the equivalent to something expensive and unattainable. But those CDs aren’t branded as such because they were made of those materials. It was simply their sales certification.

The basis for such certification is the number of sales or album delivery to a country. How many albums must be sold in order to become platinum or gold? It depends on the categorisation of each country. Each country differs in population so the number of sales would vary. So what must be a gold record for one is tenfold platinum for the other.Take Australia for instance. To get a platinum sales record in this country a music album must sell at least 70,000 units. When the album sales reach twice over this number, it is heralded as multi-platinum. To get gold, the units sold must be at least 35,000. In the US, the sales threshold is completely higher than in Australia. Gold records alone must equal at least 500,000 units sold. Platinum record is 1,000,000 units sold while diamond record must be 10,000,000 units. Wow, that’s a massive difference! This goes to show that the US has a significantly higher population than Australia.

The certifying body in Australia is called the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). In the US, they have the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Most countries follow variations of the RIAA’s categories.

Every artist greatly vies for any of these awards. How can they not when it is the validation of their aim as an artist? When thousands of their records are sold, it means thousands are listening to their songs. Thousands will know who they are thus thousands will support them as well. When this happen, they can finally regard themselves as celebrities and music icons if they are lucky.

Platinum or Gold record holders enjoy many perks. For instance, their concerts always have sold out tickets. They also get offered endorsements and at times movies or shows. Whoever gets to enjoy these things surely enjoys a huge profit as well. In fact, from the album sales alone, some rake in millions.

So if you have a favorite artist that you want to enjoy such privileges, you can support them by buying their CDs. If you are on the lookout for a great CD, on the other hand, check those with record sales awards. When thousands have bought their album, you can be certain that, indeed, they must offer good music.