RIAA certification

In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of sales albums and singles have made. (Some other countries have similar schemes. See Gold album.) Certification is not automatic; for an award to be made, the record label must pay a fee to have the sales of the recording audited.

List of artists with most gold and platinum albums

These artists have the most gold and platinum albums (each album is counted only once even if the album was certified gold, platinum, and multi-platinum):

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• Elvis Presley (97)
• Barbra Streisand (49) (the female with the most multi-platinum titles - 13)
• The Beatles (43)
• The Rolling Stones (41)
• Neil Diamond (38)
• Elton John (37)
• Frank Sinatra(33)
• Bob Dylan (33) (two with The Band)
• George Strait (32)
• Kenny Rogers/First Edition (29)
• Aerosmith (25)
• Willie Nelson (24)
• Kiss (24)
• Rod Stewart (24)
• Reba McEntire (23)
• Rush (23)
• Alabama (22)
• Chicago (22)
• Eric Clapton (22)
• Willie Nelson (22)
• Prince(22)
• Hank Williams, Jr. (22)
• Barry Manilow (21)
• The Beach Boys (20)
• John Denver (20)
• Jefferson Airplane (20)

source: http://www.riaa.com/gp/bestsellers/artist.asp

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