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May 15, 2014 | Gold & Platinum

Lady Gaga Becomes RIAA's First Female Digital Diamond Award Recipient

WASHINGTON–The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on Tuesday presented Lady Gaga with a prestigious Diamond Award in recognition of “Bad Romance” (Streamline/Interscope) surpassing the 10 million threshold counting song sales and streams. The presentation took place at Lady Gaga’s Washington, D.C. Verizon Center show as part of her artRAVE: the ARTPOP ball tour.

Cary Sherman, Chairman & CEO, RIAA said the following about Lady Gaga’s Diamond Award milestone:

“With this award, Lady Gaga joins a prestigious and exclusive list of Gold and Platinum luminaries. ‘Bad Romance’ is one of the most popular and iconic songs of the last decade. We are honored to present Lady Gaga with a Diamond Award in recognition of ‘Bad Romance’ surpassing the ten million mark, and to congratulate her as the first female artist in Gold & Platinum Program history to earn a Digital Diamond Award.”

LadyGaga

Lady Gaga and Liz Kennedy, Director, Communications and Gold & Platinum Program, RIAA

Photo Credit: Credit: Brian Samuelson

Gaga is currently playing to sold out crowds across the country on her artRAVE: the ARTPOP ball tour in support of her top-selling album “ARTPOP” whose newest video for the single “G.U.Y.” is about to cross 50 million worldwide views.

In addition to her Diamond song honor, Lady Gaga’s digital single certifications now surpass the 28.5 million threshold, counting downloads and streams and spanning seven songs. Gaga’s RIAA album awards represent more than six million albums sold in the United States.

Officially launched in 1958, the RIAA’s Gold & Platinum Program expanded in 1999 to include a Diamond Award honoring U.S. sales of 10 million or more copies of an album or single. The RIAA established its Digital Single Award in 2004 in recognition of the significant sales of emerging digital music formats. Most recently, in 2013, the RIAA added music streams to its Digital Single Award to better award artists’ commercial success in a transformative music marketplace.

The list of more than 110 Diamond titles, across all genres of music, represent some of the best and most influential sound recordings in history. Diamond honors awarded to The Beatles, Justin Bieber, Garth Brooks, Mariah Carey, The Eagles, Eminem, Michael Jackson, Kid Rock, Led Zeppelin, Madonna, Santana, Bruce Springsteen, Usher and more represent an audio almanac of the last half century.

All RIAA certifications are calculated by Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman. Complete lists of all album, single, mastertone and video awards can be accessed at www.riaa.com. Be sure to follow @RIAA on Twitter and “Like” the group’s G&P Facebook page (facebook.com/GoldandPlatinum) to get the latest certification news, artists’ award photos and much more!