Elvis's First Gold (of Many) With 146.5 million cumulative Album Awards, spanning 101 separate Gold (or higher) albums, Elvis has earned the most Gold Album Awards of any artist in RIAA history. Did You Know?
The artist with the most Gold Records is Elvis Presley with 101 awards.
The only audited measure of record sales in the United States is certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Since the RIAA introduced its awards on 14 March 1958, Elvis Presley holds the record for the most platinum certificates for both albums and singles with 82.
Eminem is making history! The 49-year-old rapper has had a successful career in the music industry, and he is now officially the highest rated singles artist in the Recording Industry Association of America's history, breaking records for most gold and platinum singles.
American rapper and record producer Ye, better known as Kanye West, has released 10 studio albums, two collaborative studio albums, one compilation album, one demo album, two live albums, one video album and six mixtapes. All ten of his studio albums have been certified at least gold in the United States.
Graduation is his biggest success with over 13 million sales. Late Registration and The College Dropout complete the top 3 at roughly 10 million each. The next 3 records, issued from 2008 to 2011, are all around 8 million sales, while The Life of Pablo and Yeezus are over/under 5 million.
Ye is no stranger to praise, as he has racked up countless numbers of accomplishments and accolades throughout his prolific career. However, West has just reached another milestone in his career, as he has just earned his first-ever RIAA certified Diamond record.
Michael Jackson's Thriller, estimated to have sold 70 million copies worldwide, is the best-selling album ever. Jackson also currently has the highest number of albums on the list with five, Celine Dion has four, while the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Madonna and Whitney Houston each have three.
Garth Brooks holds the record for most diamond-certified albums, with nine. Others with three or more albums that have reached diamond status include The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Shania Twain and the Eagles. The RIAA awards diamond plaques to albums and singles that reach 10 times platinum status.
Garth Brooks has received seven Diamond awards for seven individual albums from the RIAA for selling over ten million units each, a feat only he can claim, and is the No.
Thriller, the album, gained its overall Diamond certification back in 1983 and became 34 times multi-platinum in August 2021.
Only 116 songs in history have been certified diamond and 23 artists have multiple songs on the list. Post Malone has the most with eight, followed by Bruno Mars with six.
Top-selling artists worldwide as of 2022
Perhaps unsurprisingly, British rock band The Beatles are top of the list for best-selling artists worldwide, with 183 million units certified sales.
['Old Town Road'] is now 14x Platinum and the most certified song in music history. Thank YOU!" The "Old Town Road" version featuring Cyrus has steadily climbed the certification ranks since it emerged in April 2019. (The original "Old Town Road" was first released in December 2018.)
The song is now 17x platinum. Platinum selling 2x diamond-certified artist Swae Lee and Grammy Award-nominated 5x diamond-certified artist Post Malone have made history once again. Their anthem “Sunflower” officially emerged as the “the highest-certified single in RIAA history,” going 17x-platinum as of this month.
Jay-Z has earned his first ever diamond certification. The RIAA noted on Monday (June 12), that his 2011 collaboration with Kanye West, "N-ggas In Paris" achieved 10x platinum status, qualifying it for a diamond plaque with 10,000,000 units sold.
The anticipation forGet Rich Or Die Tryin''s release was so high that Interscope Records rushed it out five days before its scheduled Feb. 11 date. It sold over 800K copies in its first week and has since been certified Diamond by the RIAA.
"Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus
"Old Town Road" is the fastest song in history to be certified diamond.
The Beatles have the most number one hits on the chart, with 20 songs having reached that position.
Coincidentally, Michael Jackson's Bad and Katy's Teenage Dream are the only albums in US chart history to each score five Number 1s on the Billboard Hot 100.
Jay-Z Earns First Diamond Certification for "N*ggas in Paris"
The album became the first rap album to go diamond, and helped transform hip hop music into a global phenomenon. Since then, only a handful of rappers have managed to hit diamond status: What is this? MC Hammer: You have people who are really good at rapping and they call themselves a lyricist.
At the time, Posty joined fellow rappers Juicy J, T.I., OutKast, Tupac Shakur and Drake who have also reached diamond status for either features on a song, their own albums or a song they released during their careers.