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Aug 1, 2011

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Beyoncé can add another platinum plaque to her wall. A month after its release, the singer’s fourth album has shipped one million units in the U.S.

“4 has been certified Platinum by the RIAA,” read a statement on her official website. “Thank you to all the fans that purchased the album. We hope you’re enjoying it as much as we are.”

The album, which features the singles “Run the World (Girls)” and “Best Thing I Never Had,” was released in late June and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 310,000 copies sold.

4 marks Beyoncé’s fourth solo album to go platinum followingI Am… Sasha Fierce, B’Day, and her debut Dangerously in Love.

Despite her latest accomplishment, B did not set out to break records with 4. “I really wanted to get the critical acclaim,” she told Access Hollywood. I feel like the longer I do this—I’ve been doing it for 15 years now—No. 1s are amazing, but to see some of the comments that the Rolling Stones and The New York Times and all of these credible, amazing, really critical magazines and papers [are saying] has really made me my proudest.”

[Edited 10/15/14 17:49pm]

Queue the cynics, naysayers and snobs in 5…4…3…2…

I've never really understood how you can go platinum for shipping out a million copies, shouldn't you have to sell them? I'm sure target will have tens of thousands on their shelves for awhile.

Meanwhile the album is great

Congrats.

RKJCNE said:

I've never really understood how you can go platinum for shipping out a million copies, shouldn't you have to sell them? I'm sure target will have tens of thousands on their shelves for awhile.

Meanwhile the album is great

Yeah, I never understood that either. What if you ship 1 million units and 5 copies sell? That means you're platinum??

RKJCNE said:

I've never really understood how you can go platinum for shipping out a million copies, shouldn't you have to sell them? I'm sure target will have tens of thousands on their shelves for awhile.

Meanwhile the album is great

It (somewhat) makes sense. From what I understand, the sales are to the distributers and that's where the nubmers come from. Not the actualy scans at the retail establishment. IE Target and Walmart may have the same distributor. They buy 500,000 units each, that's 1 million albums sold. Is that right (org experts)?

MidniteMagnet said:

Yeah, I never understood that either. What if you ship 1 million units and 5 copies sell? That means you're platinum??

Yes, based on the archaic system used by the Recording Industry Association of America (sales minus reutrns).

Well not every artist gets 1mil shipped. There is something called estimated demand, how big an artist is and what industry folks expect it to sell. This is where the 1mil comes in and the 3mil for Gaga comes in and the 1mil for Britney who has sold less than 600k after 4mths.

I suspect there will be lots of gaga cds on US shelves. Beyonce will sell 1mil but it won't come easy. Don't see her doing close to 2mil in the US which would be a big decline seeing that IASF sold 3mil in the US but that's to be expected with 1 crappy first single and a snoozefest for a 2nd single.

Congrats 2 her. That women is the hardest working women in the music industry. Come on Kelly Ur next....

Entertainer said:

Well not every artist gets 1mil shipped. There is something called estimated demand, how big an artist is and what industry folks expect it to sell. This is where the 1mil comes in and the 3mil for Gaga comes in and the 1mil for Britney who has sold less than 600k after 4mths.

I suspect there will be lots of gaga cds on US shelves. Beyonce will sell 1mil but it won't come easy. Don't see her doing close to 2mil in the US which would be a big decline seeing that IASF sold 3mil in the US but that's to be expected with 1 crappy first single and a snoozefest for a 2nd single.

I think a lot of Gaga's numbers came from the Amazon sale this time around. Selling the album for 99cents will easily give you one million album sales in a week.

daPrettyman said:

Entertainer said:

Well not every artist gets 1mil shipped. There is something called estimated demand, how big an artist is and what industry folks expect it to sell. This is where the 1mil comes in and the 3mil for Gaga comes in and the 1mil for Britney who has sold less than 600k after 4mths.

I suspect there will be lots of gaga cds on US shelves. Beyonce will sell 1mil but it won't come easy. Don't see her doing close to 2mil in the US which would be a big decline seeing that IASF sold 3mil in the US but that's to be expected with 1 crappy first single and a snoozefest for a 2nd single.

I think a lot of Gaga's numbers came from the Amazon sale this time around. Selling the album for 99cents will easily give you one million album sales in a week.

Amazon made up for approx. 450,000 of the sales, that's still 600,000 without it. She'd still easily sell two million copies without the Amazon sales boost.

RKJCNE said:

daPrettyman said:

I think a lot of Gaga's numbers came from the Amazon sale this time around. Selling the album for 99cents will easily give you one million album sales in a week.

Amazon made up for approx. 450,000 of the sales, that's still 600,000 without it. She'd still easily sell two million copies without the Amazon sales boost.

I agree. It just would have taken longer to get there, I think.

anyone can be Platinum via Shipping, but the truth is she hasn't sold Platinum i've seen tons sitting on the shelves at Target, Walmart and Best Buy awaiting that window to return to Sony.

Sales Wrap: Beyonce Runs The Gold, DJ Khaled Finds His Best In Top 5 & Amy Winehouse Resurrects The Chart

In this week's Sales Wrap, Beyonce lives up to her album title, DJ Khaled finds a cozy spot in Top 5 and the late Amy Winehouse helps resurrect the chart.

[Edited 8/1/11 16:58pm]

banks said:

Sales Wrap: Beyonce Runs The Gold, DJ Khaled Finds His Best In Top 5 & Amy Winehouse Resurrects The Chart

In this week's Sales Wrap, Beyonce lives up to her album title, DJ Khaled finds a cozy spot in Top 5 and the late Amy Winehouse helps resurrect the chart.

Leading the pack this week is Beyonce's 4 album which received a one-slot boost to No. 4 with 53,500 behind 3 Doors Down's Time of My Life (59,800), Kidz Bop Kids' Kidz Bop 20 (68,700) and Adele's 21 (77,100). According to Nielsen SoundScan, Beyonce's new LP has hit gold status with 551,700 copies after a month in stores.

http://www.sohh.com/2011/...nds_h.html

edit to add link

[Edited 8/1/11 16:58pm]

Yikes.

^^ so it appears that "shipping a million copies" and "selling a million copies" are two different things

banks said:

Sales Wrap: Beyonce Runs The Gold, DJ Khaled Finds His Best In Top 5 & Amy Winehouse Resurrects The Chart

In this week's Sales Wrap, Beyonce lives up to her album title, DJ Khaled finds a cozy spot in Top 5 and the late Amy Winehouse helps resurrect the chart.

Leading the pack this week is Beyonce's 4 album which received a one-slot boost to No. 4 with 53,500 behind 3 Doors Down's Time of My Life (59,800), Kidz Bop Kids' Kidz Bop 20 (68,700) and Adele's 21 (77,100). According to Nielsen SoundScan, Beyonce's new LP has hit gold status with 551,700 copies after a month in stores.

http://www.sohh.com/2011/...nds_h.html

edit to add link

[Edited 8/1/11 16:58pm]

I know that C.D. did not sale 1 million on its own... it takes up space all over target and walmart everytime I go there...

SoulAlive said:

^^ so it appears that "shipping a million copies" and "selling a million copies" are two different things

No shit lol the label shipped ONE MILLION, that's why she got the certificate. Gaga's album shipped two million and it's yet to reach it in sales. Maybe when it does reach two million in sales that's when the RIAA will certify her album (which they haven't yet).

This is record company spin. Sony is trying to create the impression that her CDs are flying off the shelves. In reality, 4 has yet to cross the platinum threshold. 2 lame singles have undercut her chances of a sales surge.

mjscarousal said:

banks said:

Sales Wrap: Beyonce Runs The Gold, DJ Khaled Finds His Best In Top 5 & Amy Winehouse Resurrects The Chart

In this week's Sales Wrap, Beyonce lives up to her album title, DJ Khaled finds a cozy spot in Top 5 and the late Amy Winehouse helps resurrect the chart.

Leading the pack this week is Beyonce's 4 album which received a one-slot boost to No. 4 with 53,500 behind 3 Doors Down's Time of My Life (59,800), Kidz Bop Kids' Kidz Bop 20 (68,700) and Adele's 21 (77,100). According to Nielsen SoundScan, Beyonce's new LP has hit gold status with 551,700 copies after a month in stores.

http://www.sohh.com/2011/...nds_h.html

edit to add link

[Edited 8/1/11 16:58pm]

I know that C.D. did not sale 1 million on its own... it takes up space all over target and walmart everytime I go there...

I saw a ton of her CDs at my local Target

Identity said:

This is record company spin. Sony is trying to create the impression that her CDs are flying off the shelves. In reality, 4 has yet to cross the platinum threshold. 2 lame singles have undercut her chances of a sales surge.

Yep,Sony is trying to fool people.They're panicking because the first two singles went nowhere.They don't wanna admit that they have a dud on their hands.

Identity said:

This is record company spin. Sony is trying to create the impression that her CDs are flying off the shelves. In reality, 4 has yet to cross the platinum threshold. 2 lame singles have undercut her chances of a sales surge.

Labels have done this since RIAA came to be ANYWAYS.

Timmy84 said:

SoulAlive said:

^^ so it appears that "shipping a million copies" and "selling a million copies" are two different things

No shit lol the label shipped ONE MILLION, that's why she got the certificate. Gaga's album shipped two million and it's yet to reach it in sales. Maybe when it does reach two million in sales that's when the RIAA will certify her album (which they haven't yet).

Don't labels have to request/buy certifications?

RKJCNE said:

Timmy84 said:

No shit lol the label shipped ONE MILLION, that's why she got the certificate. Gaga's album shipped two million and it's yet to reach it in sales. Maybe when it does reach two million in sales that's when the RIAA will certify her album (which they haven't yet).

Don't labels have to request/buy certifications?

Identity said:

Technically, the label requests and pays the RIAA to provide reliable info about sales. Oddly, this process excludes sales counted by SoundScan, the standard used by the industry.

Damn so artists really dont know how much they sale Their fooled by their own hype

getxxxx said:

People are acting brand new, simply because this is Beyonce.

It was never a requirement for an artist's album to sell a million in order to be certified for a million. Certifications have *always* been based on shipments - per rules set up by the RIAA themselves. It's funny to me when people act as though the artist and label are being shady by applying for certifications, based on the demand they receive from retailers nationwide. Fact is that record stores across the country ordered (bought) a million copies of her album -- and Sony had to press a million copies per the request. Sony is making a profit from '4', even if the general public hasn't snapped up a million copies of it yet. There's nothing duplicatious or manipulative about it. Her album is platinum, period.

chamber said:

People are acting brand new, simply because this is Beyonce.

It was never a requirement for an artist's album to sell a million in order to be certified for a million. Certifications have *always* been based on shipments - per rules set up by the RIAA themselves. It's funny to me when people act as though the artist and label are being shady by applying for certifications, based on the demand they receive from retailers nationwide. Fact is that record stores across the country ordered (bought) a million copies of her album -- and Sony had to press a million copies per the request. Sony is making a profit from '4', even if the general public hasn't snapped up a million copies of it yet. There's nothing duplicatious or manipulative about it. Her album is platinum, period.

Exactly. That's why I'm not surprised that it was certified the way it was. It's not hard to figure that out.