Music recording sales certification

is a system of certifying that a music recording has sold a certain number of copies.
Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories, which are named after the precious materials gold, platinum and diamond (silver is also used in some countries). The number of sales required for these awards varies depending on the population of the territory in which the album is released. Normally they are awarded only to albums released at least nationally and are awarded individually for each country in which the album is sold. Additionally, different sales levels may exist for different music media, such as albums, singles, or videos.
Originally applied to LP records, certification is now most commonly awarded for compact disc sales. Certification is usually awarded cumulatively, and it is possible for a single album to be certified silver, gold, and platinum in turn. An album that becomes platinum twice over is said to be "double platinum".

'The original "Gold Record" awards were presented to artists by their own record companies to publicize the achievement of 1,000,000 sales. The first of these was awarded by RCA to Glenn Miller in February 1942, celebrating 1,200,000 sales of "Chattanooga Choo Choo." Another example of a company award is the gold record awarded to Elvis Presley in 1956 for 1,000,000 sales of the single "Hound Dog". This has led to controversy over how to determine the placings for the biggest selling artists of all time, and claims that some gold albums should be disregarded or even retroactively withdrawn although they were legitimately awarded at the time.