It is awarded based on shipment figures of compact disc or cassette tape which was reported by record labels.

Before the unification of criteria and introduction of music videos category in July 2003, a separate scale had been used for certification awards.

[1] Certifications for songs and albums released digitally began on September 20, 2006, using download data collected since the early 2000s.

In 2021, Ayumi Hamasaki's A Complete: All Singles (2008) became the first album released in the 2000s to receive digital certification.

As of April 2020,[5] RIAJ has begun to certify songs for streaming, just how it does for physical shipments and digital download sales.