Not when her album has charted for 25 straight weeks. Nice try, though.

Selling how many each week?

It's peaked at #1, which on any given week is 100,000+ on slow weeks and much higher when popular releases come out. Twenty-five weeks later, she's still at number 13. Given that, a claim of three million total isn't that far fetched.

I've never gone into a shop and seen a shortage of Madonna, Mariah Carey or any other 'large' chart act. You've got to imagine then that a substantial number of the records aren't actually sold to the consumer at the time but are simply sitting in shops, if they are lucky, awaiting to be sold. That sale may or may not happen but that doesn't effect the platinum or gold award. I don't think it's beyond the realms of realism to assume at least 1/3 of the albums shipped haven't actually sold to consumers. It may even be more than that.

As for your link, what constitutes a 'sale'? An album 'sold' by the supplier to the record shop or a cd sold to a consumer by a record shop?

From Billboard website.
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I've been following the sales figures in Geoff Mayfield's "Between The Bullets" column, and I don't see how my favorite album can be certified triple-platinum when I added up all the sales figures, and it has only sold 1.8 million copies. Can you explain this discrepancy?

Also, I noticed last week that five old albums by my favorite artist were all certified at once. Isn't this too coincidental?

My other favorite artist has sold two million copies of her first album, but it's not certified gold or platinum. And her double live album sold one million copies but is certified double-platinum. What's going on here?

Richard Roe

Dear Richard,

It's a common misconception that certifications are based on sales to consumers. The RIAA issues gold, platinum, and now diamond certifications based on the number of units shipped to stores. So your favorite artist's latest album shipped three million copies, which is why it's already certified platinum even if all three million copies haven't passed into consumers' hands yet.

Certifications aren't automatic; labels must request and pay for them. So if five older albums were all certified at once, it just means the label decided to apply for all five at the same time, not that they all crossed the million-mark in the same month.

That also explains why your favorite female artist hasn't been certified yet, even though she's sold two million copies of her latest effort. Despite the massive sales, her label hasn't applied for certification yet.

Regarding your last question, double albums count as two, triple albums count as three, etc. So, for example, if Capitol Records shipped six million copies of Garth Brooks' double live album, the label can apply for a certification of 12 times platinum.

I'll accept that. The fact exists that a substantial number people still like Mariah Carey, so I'm searching for your point in context of this thread.

The original question was "How do her albums go Platinum x 10?"

I see. You're being literal.

With your one-third theory, that still makes 6.5+ million people buying her records. The intent of the original question (why is she popular) hasn't changed.

You knows it, Jimbly.

I hate Mariah less than I hate other awful people. Someone gotta have her butt, I mean back.

whew, i was eyeing the one on the left.....that picture had nothing to do with the thread, but I loved it so much, I had to find a home for it!

You just like her indie glasses.

(I have to admit, I find her particularly attractive, too, and probably for the same reason.)