Certification Travels

Where has the certification process taken us?

United States
UK
France
Canada
Australia
Portugal
Germany

Let's travel to Japan today with the country's RIAJ certification process.

RIAJ stands for Recording Industry Association of Japan and was founded in 1942 with headquarters in Minato, Tokyo.

RIAJ Purposes -

Promote music sales

Enforce copyright laws

Research related to Japanese music industry

The Japanese certification process began in 1989.  Sales include singles, albums, and digital downloads.

Point of intrigue -

The highest level of certification is known as "million" rather than "diamond."

With this said, below is the certification process -

Gold - 100,000

Platinum - 250,000

2x Platinum - 500,000

3x Platinum - 750,000 

Million - 1,000,000

Multi-Million - 2,000,000+

(Source - Wikipedia)

My take away -

Japan's recording industry sets an impressive standard for certification honors...akin to the RIAA.  I am intrigued by the use of "million" rather than "diamond" and can only imagine Japanese artists achieving such elite status.