[DoodleBob]

I often use RIAA's Gold & Platinum database for facts. Many times people will say this artist or that artist sold millions, and you fact-check the claim and find out it's all smoke and mirrors.

For all of these songs, the quoted sales level (i.e., n/a, Gold, Platinum) is for the single. In some cases, the album on which the single was located also was certified Gold or Platinum as well.

The big shocker for me was that American Pie didn't break 500,000 in sales as a single, or an album. Candidly, that's not one of my favorites but you cannot deny the impact or popularity. I read that although singles are often shortened versions of the original, they chose for the single of American Pie to be all eight+ minutes, splitting it across the A and B sides of the 45.

[the OlLine Rebel]

Yeah, but it was also put up high by RIAA for their songs of the century list!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_of_the_Century