TOOL‘s debut album, 1993 “Undertow”, was officially certified triple platinum on April 15 by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) for sales in excess of three million copies. On the same day, 2001’s “Lateralus” was also awarded triple-platinum status, while 2006’s “10,000 Days” was certified double platinum.
Last August, TOOL‘s latest album, “Fear Inoculum” was certified gold for sales in excess of half a million copies.
The RIAA developed its gold and platinum awards program in 1958 to honor artists and create a standard by which to measure 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.
Presently, the RIAA awards a gold honor for 500,000 units sold, a platinum honor for 1 million units sold and a diamond award for more than 10 million units sold.
In the streaming age, each permanent digital album or physical album sale count as 1 unit for certification purposes, 10 permanent track downloads from the album count as 1 unit for certification purposes, and 1,500 on-demand audio and/or video streams from the album count as 1 unit. For songs, 150 on-demand audio and/or video streams count as 1 unit for certification purposes.
In August 2019, TOOL‘s entire recorded catalog was made available on digital and streaming services. The band’s first four previous studio LPs — “Undertow”, “Ænima”, “Lateralus” and “10,000 Days” — and the band’s 1992 debut EP, “Opiate”, were released. TOOL was one of the last holdouts in the music business to keep all its music out of the digital realm.
“Our obsession with, and dream of, a world where BetaMax and Laser Disc rule has ended,” singer Maynard James Keenan joked at the time. “Time for us to move on. But never fear. There’s a brand new thing we think you’re really gonna dig. It’s called digital downloads and streaming. Get ready for the future, folks!”
