RIAA Gold and Platinum program updates

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) – the trade group that represents the U.S. recording industry – presented recording artist Garth Brooks with a special Career Award this month, representing his position as the new top-selling solo artist in recorded history as part of the RIAA’s Gold and Platinum program.

The award follows an audit recently completed by the Association, that determined that Brooks sold more records in the US than Elvis Presley did, and also brought updated ranks and sale data for the Gold and Platinum artists on the US market, including Madonna who is the second top female artist in the updated list. Here it is:

# – Artist (Certified Units in Millions)
01 – The Beatles (170)
02 – Garth Brooks (123)
03 – Elvis Presley (118.5)
04 – Led Zeppelin 109.5)
05 – Eagles (91)
06 – Billy Joel (79.5)
07 – Pink Floyd (74.5)
08 – Barbra Streisand (71)
09 – Elton John (69.5)
10 – AC/DC (68)
11 – The Rolling Stones (66)
12 – George Strait (65.5)
13 – Aerosmith (65.5)
14 – Madonna (63)
15 – Bruce Springsteen (62.5)
16 – Mariah Carey (61.5)
17 – Michael Jackson (60.5)
18 – Metallica (57)
19 – Van Halen (56.5)
20 – Whitney Houston (54)

Check out the complete rundown at the RIAA website by clicking here.

Thanks to Andrew Nestler at the Madonna Information Report.