Music recording certification

Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories, which are named after precious materials (gold, platinum and diamond).

The first silver disc was awarded by Regal Zonophone to George Formby in December 1937 for sales of 100,000 copies of "The Window Cleaner".

Further examples of company awards are the gold records awarded in 1956 by RCA Victor to Harry Belafonte for his album Calypso for being the first LP record album to sell more than one million copies and Elvis Presley for one million units sold of his RCA Victor single "Don't Be Cruel".

Also in 1956, Decca's presented a gold record award to Jerry Lewis for the single "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody".

The 1958 RCA Victor recording by Van Cliburn of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto would eventually be awarded a platinum citation, but this did not occur until two decades after its release.

On 14 March 1958, the RIAA certified its first gold record, Perry Como's hit single "Catch a Falling Star".

In 1976, RIAA introduced the platinum certification, first awarded to the Eagles compilation album Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) on 24 February 1976,[6] and to Johnnie Taylor's single "Disco Lady" on 22 April 1976.

[10] In most countries, certifications no longer apply solely to physical media but now also include sales awards recognizing digital downloads (in the US and UK since 2004).

Streaming from on-demand services such as Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal and Napster has been included into existing digital certification in the US since 2013, and the UK and Germany since 2014.

[12][13][14] Other countries, such as Denmark and Spain, maintain separate awards for digital download singles and streaming.

[22][24] Since February 2016, RIAA includes on-demand audio and video streams and a track sale equivalent in Gold and Platinum Album Award.