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L to R: Greg Thompson, Executive Vice President, Capitol Music Group; Cary Sherman, Chairman and CEO, Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA); Katy Perry.
Photo Credit: Daniel Swartz, Revamp.com

Only Act to Surpass 70 Million Certifications in G&P’s Digital Program. 32 Million New Single Awards Announced. Perry Recognized at Event in Washington, D.C.

WASHINGTON – Katy Perry has made Gold & Platinum (G&P) Program history.  The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has recognized the Capitol Records artist as its most awarded digital act in the history of Gold & Platinum awards, the industry’s premier program for celebrating artistic achievement in the marketplace.

Eighteen Katy Perry songs, from early favorites like “I Kissed a Girl” and “Hot N Cold” to popular new releases like “Dark Horse” and “Birthday” are included in Perry’s 72 million cumulative Digital Single Certifications counting downloads and on-demand streams.  The new batch of certifications vaults Katy to the top of the RIAA’s list of artists with the most G&P Digital Single Certifications, and makes Perry the first artist to surpass the 70 million digital award threshold – 20 million ahead of any other artist.

More than 32 million new cumulative certifications were awarded today including a 9x multi-Platinum for “Firework,” two 7x multi-Platinums for “California Gurls” and “E.T.,” three 6x multi-Platinums for “Dark Horse,” “Hot N Cold” and “Teenage Dream” and more.  Katy’s career RIAA tally now encompasses 18 Gold, 16 Platinum and 56 multi-Platinum Digital Single Awards, in addition to her 2x multi-Platinum album “Teenage Dream” and Platinum album “One Of The Boys.”

RIAA Chairman & CEO Cary Sherman presented the top award to Perry Wednesday evening at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.

“Katy Perry is a force to be reckoned with in music,” said RIAA Chairman & CEO Cary Sherman.  “We are honored to recognize Katy as the most successful digital artist in Gold & Platinum Program history.  She embodies all that makes a true global superstar:  the musical talent, the extraordinary drive and genuine charisma, and an intrinsic connection with her fans.  This award is a reflection of her deep commitment to those qualities and to her music, which has propelled her to this historic milestone.   We congratulate Katy and her team on all her success.”

The RIAA created the Gold & Platinum Awards Program in 1958 to honor artists and create a standard for measuring the commercial success of a sound recording.  The program trademarked the Gold record and formalized the industry practice of presenting awards to artists for music sales achievements.

In 2004, the RIAA expanded its program to include a Digital Single Award in recognition of the significant sales of emerging digital music formats.  In 2013, the RIAA added on-demand music streams to its Digital Single Award to better reflect artists’ commercial success in a transformative music marketplace.  This includes streams from on-demand services like Beats Music, Rdio, Rhapsody, Slacker, Spotify, Xbox Music and others, plus video streaming services like MTV.com, VEVO, Yahoo! Music, YouTube and more authorized U.S. services like those listed on Whymusicmatters.com.

The RIAA has certified nearly 1,800 separate digital songs in the past decade of G&P’s digital awards and some 15,000 total titles during the program’s 56-year history.  With this new count, Katy Perry now tops the RIAA’s Digital Awards tally, while The Beatles lead Gold & Platinum’s top certified by albums count.

All certifications are calculated by the firm Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman, which has audited title sales for the RIAA for more than 30 years.  Complete lists of all album, single, mastertone and video awards can also be accessed at riaa.com, while new and notable program news can be found at facebook.com/GoldandPlatinum.