TORONTO – The Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) kicked off a new Gold/Platinum awards program for mobile ringtones with the announcement today that 43 ringtones have been awarded Platinum certification, while another 17 ringtones have achieved Gold status.
Platinum certification is awarded for sales of 40,000 ringtones and Gold is awarded for 20,000 ringtones. And in fact, 15 ringtones have already achieved Double-Platinum status or higher.
Among the top-selling ringtones are “Smack That” by Akon, which was awarded 8X-Platinum certification and “Sexy Back” by Justin Timberlake, which achieved 6X-Platinum status. Chamillionaire’s “Ridin’” also reached 6X-Platinum. Canadian notables include Nelly Furtado’s “Promiscuous” (Triple-Platinum), Avril Lavigne’s “Girlfriend” (Double-Platinum) and Finger Eleven’s “Paralyzer” (Platinum).
“Ringtones are another way Canada’s recording industry is getting music to fans where they want it and how they want it,” CRIA President Graham Henderson said in a press release.
“The new awards program celebrates not only the artists behind the most popular ringtones, but also the burgeoning genre of mobile music and the fans who are discovering it.”
Sales of master ringtones – original song recordings downloaded by mobile phone subscribers to replace standard ring sounds – represented approximately 45 per cent of Canada’s digital music sales in 2007, according to CRIA.
The full list of Gold and Platinum ringtone certifications will be posted at www.cria.ca.
