https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/ Copyright (c) 2006-2013 Web Wiz Forums - All Rights Reserved. Fri, 01 May 2026 18:49:05 +0000 Thu, 04 Oct 2012 22:44:53 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Web Wiz Forums 12.07 360 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/RSS_post_feed.asp?TID=7097 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum//images/Top-40-Music-on-CD-Forum-Logo.png https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/ https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7097&PID=35619&title=riaa-certification#35619 Author: Brian W.
Subject: 7097
Posted: 04 October 2012 at 10:44pm

I will say in the case of "Super Bowl Shuffle," though, I'll bet you that a LARGE percentage of the copies of that song were sold at Bears games, which wouldn't have been a part of Billboard's sales survey.]]> Thu, 04 Oct 2012 22:44:53 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7097&PID=35619&title=riaa-certification#35619 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7097&PID=35618&title=riaa-certification#35618 Author: Brian W.
Subject: 7097
Posted: 04 October 2012 at 10:43pm

torcan wrote: Brian W. wrote: And musicmanatal is also correct -- once certification was lowered so "gold" meant 500,000 copies, all sorts of things in people's back catalogs were certified gold, when they only sold half a million. I never liked that rule. I thought that when the lowering to 500,000 took place in 1989, it should have been for any single released that year or after. I didn't like the fact they could go back and "re-up". It means some gold singles are 500,000 and some are a million; some platinum singles are 1 million and some are 2 - and there's really no way to tell which is which.

I agree. It should not have been retroactive.

This discussion prompted me to look in the RIAA search engine, and surprisingly, three "standard" singles (as opposed to digital or ringtones) were recently upgraded to Platinum this past March -- Foreigner's "Hot Blooded," "Waiting For A Girl Like You," and "I Want To Know What Love Is."

A new example of what I mentioned above: their "Double Vision" single, originally certified Gold for a million sales in 1978, was NOT upgraded to Platinum. So it didn't actually sell a million at retail. All these years later, after returns were factored in, it wasn't quite a million after all.]]> Thu, 04 Oct 2012 22:43:03 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7097&PID=35618&title=riaa-certification#35618 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7097&PID=35614&title=riaa-certification#35614 Author: torcan
Subject: 7097
Posted: 04 October 2012 at 2:59pm

Brian W. wrote: And musicmanatal is also correct -- once certification was lowered so "gold" meant 500,000 copies, all sorts of things in people's back catalogs were certified gold, when they only sold half a million.

I never liked that rule. I thought that when the lowering to 500,000 took place in 1989, it should have been for any single released that year or after. I didn't like the fact they could go back and "re-up". It means some gold singles are 500,000 and some are a million; some platinum singles are 1 million and some are 2 - and there's really no way to tell which is which.]]> Thu, 04 Oct 2012 14:59:47 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7097&PID=35614&title=riaa-certification#35614 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7097&PID=35610&title=riaa-certification#35610 Author: Brian W.
Subject: 7097
Posted: 04 October 2012 at 1:31am

Well, for one thing, an RIAA certification is for units shipped to retailers, not units sold at retail. Several of Elton John and Michael Jackson's hits that were certified gold were NOT upped to Platinum when their singles catalogs were re-certified in the 1990s. This is likely because, once returns from retailers were factored in, the singles were found not to have actually sold a million to consumers. "The Girl is Mine" and "The Bitch is Back" are two examples of this. "The Main Event" by Barbra Streisand is another example.

And musicmanatal is also correct -- once certification was lowered so "gold" meant 500,000 copies, all sorts of things in people's back catalogs were certified gold, when they only sold half a million.]]> Thu, 04 Oct 2012 01:31:01 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7097&PID=35610&title=riaa-certification#35610 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7097&PID=35605&title=riaa-certification#35605 Author: MMathews
Subject: 7097
Posted: 02 October 2012 at 4:13pm

one other 80's factor that definitely applies to a few of
those tracks in the list, is they had a generous rotation
on MTV.   I remember seeing the "Rockit" video more than i
heard it on the radio.
MM]]> Tue, 02 Oct 2012 16:13:43 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7097&PID=35605&title=riaa-certification#35605 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7097&PID=35600&title=riaa-certification#35600 Author: 995wlol
Subject: 7097
Posted: 02 October 2012 at 6:43am

Some of the songs on the list may have even received more top 40 airplay than reflected the airplay charts. An example would be Herbie Hancock's "Rockit", which recieved significant airplay on WLOL/Minneapolis in 1984-1985, but was never reported on their weekly survey. Not sure why WLOL didn't chart it.]]> Tue, 02 Oct 2012 06:43:05 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7097&PID=35600&title=riaa-certification#35600 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7097&PID=35599&title=riaa-certification#35599 Author: Paul Haney
Subject: 7097
Posted: 02 October 2012 at 3:11am

I concur with what musicmanatl and Santi posted. Some of those big sellers just didn't fit-in with most Top 40 programmers.

What I also find pretty interesting are the digital certifications for lower charting songs, many that only "Bubbled Under"! In today's world, a song can be downloaded over a period of several years and finally be certified, regardless of where it charted during any given week.]]> Tue, 02 Oct 2012 03:11:42 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7097&PID=35599&title=riaa-certification#35599 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7097&PID=35597&title=riaa-certification#35597 Author: Santi Paradoa
Subject: 7097
Posted: 01 October 2012 at 8:19pm

Some of the songs on the above list were big Soul or Country chart hits
that also crossed over pop. That might account for some of the sales.]]> Mon, 01 Oct 2012 20:19:28 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7097&PID=35597&title=riaa-certification#35597 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7097&PID=35596&title=riaa-certification#35596 Author: musicmanatl
Subject: 7097
Posted: 01 October 2012 at 8:18pm

The singles that you listed were pretty much all crossover hits from other formats. They were huge hits on those formats - almost all of them hit #1 country or R&B. But in each case they were "too" country or R&B for mass consumption in the eyes (ears?) of top 40 programmers so they received little airplay (at least outside of major metropolitan areas like New York and LA). The JJ Fad, LL Cool J, 2 Live Crew and De La Soul records were all early rap hits, and most top 40s wouldn't touch rap (during the daytime, at least) until the 1990s. I also think that some of these records were certified gold in the 1990s, after the RIAA dropped the sales figure for certification from 1 million to 500,000. I bet that is how "Rockit" and "Centipede" made the cut.]]> Mon, 01 Oct 2012 20:18:12 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7097&PID=35596&title=riaa-certification#35596 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7097&PID=35595&title=riaa-certification#35595 Author: Fetta
Subject: 7097
Posted: 01 October 2012 at 7:36pm

I have a question for some of our chart experts on the board. I was
flipping through the Billboard Pop Annual....specifically at the entries for
the 80s and noticed that there are quite a few singles that are certified
Gold by RIAA that didn't even crack the Top 20 and there are several
that didn't even crack the top 40. I know that the Billboard Top 40 isn't
entirely based on sales but that being said, I would think that any single
to get the gold certification would have received significant airplay as
well.   Can someone shed some light on how a single can sell
1,000,000 copies and not crack the Top 20 (or Top 40)? Just curious....

Here are a list of songs from the 80's that I am referring to:

Theme From "The Dukes Of Hazzard" - Waylon Jennings (#21)
She's A Bad Mama Jama - Carl Carlton (#21)
Double Dutch Bus - Frankie Smith (#30)
Swingin - John Anderson (#43)
Juicy Fruit - Mtume (#45)
Rockit - Herbie Hancock (#71)
Centipede - Rebbie Jackson (#24)
I Wonder If I Take You Home. - Lisa Lisa (#34)
Superbowl Shuffle - Chicago Bears (#41)
Supersonic - JJ Fad (#30)
Going Back To Cali - LL Cool J (#31)
Me So Horny - 2 Live Crew (#26)
Me Myself & I - De La Soul (#34)
One - Metallica (#35)
]]> Mon, 01 Oct 2012 19:36:02 +0000 https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7097&PID=35595&title=riaa-certification#35595