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Elvis' Diamond Awards
Made official by the RIAA a few years back, It Is now possible to achieve an award greater than the previous Gold / Platinum / multi-Platinum awards
For an album to achieve Diamond status, it must sell 10 Million copies plus
only in the usa
Elvis may have the most Gold, Platinum and multi-Platinum records ever but he currently has no Diamond awards
I think The Beatles have the most Diamond awards with 5
But the future is looking good because Elvis is so close to getting one, see his best selling albums below-
Elvis' Christmas Album (1970 Package) - 9,000,000+
Elvis' Golden Records Vol.1 - 6,000,000+
Aloha From Hawaii - 5,000,000+
Elvis 30 #1 Hits - 4,000,000+
The Top Ten Hits - 4,000,000+
Elvis' Christmas Album (1957 Package) - 3,000,000+
Blue Hawaii - 3,000,000+
You'll Never Walk Alone - 3,000,000+
Elvis Sings The Wonderful World Of Christmas - 3,000,000+
Elvis As Recorded At Madison Square Garden - 3,000,000+
Elvis In Concert - 3,000,000+
The Number One Hits - 3,000,000+
As you can see, Elvis' Christmas Album, the 1970 reissue is the closest Elvis is to a diamond record, with Elvis' Golden Records Vol.1 and Aloha From Hawaii coming close, but I really would like to see Elvis get his first Diamond award before I die lol
(y)
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Yes the Beatles had five but just got one not long ago for their #1s album so now its 6. Lets hope as BMG slowly sorts out the mess RCA made of keeping track of Elviss sales that this will change. Here is an item I found last year
a) The RIAA doesn't track sales, just shipments.
Well, that may be true as of recent, but in this case, this is what happenned. Sometime in 2003, BMG, which now owns RCA, found some 4 tons of paperwork in a New Jersey warehouse, containing loads upon loads of receipts, shipments, from God knows how long ago, and pertaining to the sale of Elvis Presley records.
Then, the Estate of Elvis Presley, who recorded for RCA, and whose CD`s and singles are now issued by BMG, requested that the documents be sent to the RIAA. The first record whose sale was fuly accounted for, to the tune of 500,000 copies ( probably reached sometime in the early sixties, when that record was still available, as a 45 r.p.m, was his first single for SUN, which was also re-issued by RCA, in 1956, called That`s all right, Mama, and the second, was Good Rocking tonight, also a SUN release re-issued, in 1956, by RCA.
There are, my dear friends, 102 Elvis singles still to be certified, and the only way they can be initially certfied, then added to the total is if 500,000 copies of each single are accounted for, as sold. Even if Mystery Train, the next single to be certified is found to have sold 499,999, it will not add to the tally, until the 500,00-th copy is audited, as sold. The RIAA has already certified 53 of his singles, all Gold, 27 of which are Platinum (1 million), and 8 of which as Multi-platinum ( over two million).
B -- There aren't any singles
Wrong, there are still singles, but they represent maybe 5 percent of sales. It ised to be the other way around when rock started. In 1956, Elvis sold 10 million records, representiong half of the entitre sale of records by RCA, then the biggest record company in the world. iOf these, he sold 9 million singles and 1 million albums. By 1970, he was selling an equal amount of singles and albums yearly (4m of each). By 1990, he was selling 5 million albums and 100,000 singles, also yearly. Only in 2002, percetntages of his output changed. He sold 12 million albums worldwide, and 4 million singles (that`s what A little less conversation sold, after hitting # 1 in 22 countries and territories). This year, Elvis will sell about 4 million albums and about a half a million singles, the latter mostly in Britain.
RCA did not have to pay if they were not accounted.