What is a platinum selling artist?

In US, according to Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), any recording artist (or a duo or a band or a group) who ships* (wholesale shipment) at least 1 million or more copies of his music albums and/ or song singles in USA, can be termed as a platinum selling artist.

While, in UK, according to British Phonographic Industry (BPI), any artist who ships at least 600,000 copies of his songs or at least 300,000 copies of his albums in UK, can be termed as a platinum selling artist.

So, as is evident, US and UK follow different set of rules in deciding what sales constitute a platinum album or a song.



* 'Ships' here means the album or song units sent out to retailers for sales.