A Timeline of the RIAA

a brief timeline of
the RIAA
1957-Present Day
1958
The RIAA awards are launched
March 14, 1958
The first gold plaque was
awarded to Perry Como for
“Catch a Falling Star”
July 1958
The cast album for
Oklahoma! became the
first official Gold
Album
1976
The Disco Era ushered in a surge of record and album sales. The
RIAA instituted the Platinum Award, for sales of 1,000,000 copies.
Platinum Awards
•
Johnnie Taylor’s “Disco Lady” is the very first Platinum
Record
•
Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 by The Eagles was not
only the first Platinum Album but it is to this day, the
best selling Album in RIAA history with 29,000,000
sales
•
Brought on by his death, the collective works of
Michael Jackson experienced a massive sales surge and
as a result, Thriller became the second album in RIAA
history to achieve sales of 29,000,000
1981
As MTV was busting on the
scene, more and more
artists crossed the million
copy sales mark, prompting
the RIAA to start the Video
Music Awards
1984
The Compact Disc
Revolution begins, creating
another music sales boom,
and The RIAA institutes the
Multi-Platinum Award for
sales of 2,000,000 units
The Compact Disc
•
Fittingly, the first compact
disc made in the United
States for commercial use,
was Bruce Spingsteen’s Born
in the USA in 1984
•
The first compact disc
commercially available was
Billy Joel’s 52nd Street, which
was released in 1982 in Japan
March 16, 1999
The Diamond Award is launched, honoring artists whose
albums and singles sold 10,000,000 copies
2001
•
RIAA introduces the Permios de
Oro y Pllatino Sales Award to
celebrate sales in latin music
•
The award is for music that
contains at least 50% Spanish
lyrics •
Oro - 30,000 units
•
Platino - 60,000 units
•
Multi Platino - 120,000 units
•
Diamante - 600,000 units
2004
•
Responding, once again to a
change in consumer taste,
the RIAA begins tracking
Digital Music Sales, and
formally launches the Digital
Sales Award, there were 45
titles included in the initial
group of certifications
May 9, 2013
The RIAA discontinues the Digital Sales Award and replaces it with the
“Combined” Digital Single Award, tracking both digital sales and streaming data
Right Now
May we offer you some RIAA Kool-Aid!!!