These figures are taken from a variety of sources (again, some of the dates come from Alex's FAQ). In the early 1970's
the RIAA certification of "Gold" meant $1,000,000 worth of an album sold. With the explosion of the music industry in the
1970s the "Gold" certification was redefined in 1975 to "require that an album also sell a minimum of 500,000 copies in addition
to reaching $1 million in sales" (RIAA). The "Platinum" award was introduced in 1976 to signify shipments of 1,000,000
units shipped and a minimum of $2,000,000 at wholesale. The RIAA also uses a multiplication system for albums with
more that one disc. Thus, a 2 disc set selling 2 million copies will be certified quadruple-platinum (4x Platinum). This has
changed in recent years with multi-disc sets being required to contain 100 minutes of music to qualify for multiplied shipping
accounting. If you spot any errors or can add details, please contact me. This list only deals with the domestic US official issues. See also
KISS RIAA Chronology.
A note about these figures: One can go to the official RIAA statistics and see that KISS "Alive!" is only certified
for "Gold" sales. Many other KISS albums in that database are way off what have long been considered KISS' actual numbers.
However, it seems unlikely, at this point, that KISS or Universal will recertify the catalog. In the end, numbers shouldn't
affect your opinion of the band!
| KISS' TOTAL US ALBUM SALES TO DATE | |
| KISS' TOTAL GOLD ALBUM DISCS (inc. Solos) | |
| KISS' TOTAL PLATINUM DISCS (inc. Solos) |
| Album | |
| KISS | |
| Certified 6/8/77 | |
| HOTTER THAN HELL | |
| Certified 6/23/77 | |
| DRESSED TO KILL | |
| Certified 2/28/77 Notes: The first of the pre-Alive! albums to go Gold. |
|
| ALIVE! | |
| Certified 12/04/75 Notes: Alive! provided KISS with their first Gold record. By the end of January 1976 the album had gone platium. |
|
| DESTROYER | |
| Certified 4/22/76 Notes: Certified Platinum 11/11/76. |
|
| THE ORIGINALS* | |
| Notes: Not certified. *Techincally, even as a repackaging of the first three studio album, "The Originals" sold 250,000 copies, which by RIAA calculation methods would translate into sales of 750,000 disc, thus being worth a Gold disc. However, it seems likely that the sales figures were applied to the original releases since both "KISS" and "Hotter Than Hell" went gold after this album's release. This is the subject of some debate. | |
| ROCK AND ROLL OVER | |
| Certified 11/11/76 Notes: Certified Platinum 01/05/77. "Rock And Roll Over" was the first KISS album to ship "Gold"... |
|
| LOVE GUN | |
| Certified 6/30/77 Notes: "Love Gun" was the first KISS album to ship "Platinum"... |
|
| KISS Alive II | |
| Certified 11/28/77 Notes: Shipped Platinum certified in November 1977. According to the KISS Army Newsletter of early 1978 the album had attained 2X platinum status. Attained 2X platinum sales on 2/26/96... |
|
| DOUBLE PLATINUM | |
| Certified 5/16/78 Notes: "Double Platinum" didn't ship certified, and would take over a month to attain Platinum status... |
|
| GENE SIMMONS | |
| Certified 10/02/78 Notes: The solo albums would take two weeks to attain simultaneous Gold and Platinum status. They are included in this listing due to the fact that they bear the KISS logo which makes them part of the KISS Catalog, rather than being strictly solo releases... |
|
| ACE FREHLEY | |
| Certified 10/02/78 Notes: The solo albums would take two weeks to attain simultaneous Gold and Platinum status... |
|
| PETER CRISS | |
| Certified 10/02/78 Notes: The solo albums would take two weeks to attain simultaneous Gold and Platinum status... |
|
| PAUL STANLEY | |
| Certified 10/02/78 Notes: The solo albums would take two weeks to attain simultaneous Gold and Platinum status... |
|
| DYNASTY | |
| Certified 6/06/79 Notes: "Dynasty" shipped Gold, and attained Platinum on 7/10/79. The album is rumored to have attained 2X platinum in early 1980 and stand at 3X platinum sales... |
|
| UNMASKED | |
| Certified 7/30/80 Notes: "Unmasked" took nearly 3 months to attain only Gold certification... |
|
| MUSIC FROM "THE ELDER" | |
| Uncertified Notes: Apparently by late-2001 "The Elder" is in the 490,000 sales range... |
|
| CREATURES OF THE NIGHT | |
| Certified 5/09/94 Notes: This album took nearly 12 years to attain Gold certification... |
|
| LICK IT UP | |
| Certified 12/22/83 Notes: Certified platinum 12/9/90... |
|
| ANIMALIZE | |
| Certified 12/03/84 Notes: Certified platinum 12/12/90. This album is rumored to be at 2X Platinum... |
|
| ASYLUM | |
| Certified Gold 11/13/85 Notes: ... |
|
| CRAZY NIGHTS | |
| Certified 11/17/87 Notes: Certified platinum 2/18/88. This album is also rumored to be near 2X Platinum... |
|
| SMASHES, THRASHES, AND HITS | |
| Certified 02/01/89 Notes: Certified 2X Platinum 2/26/96, the only of the unmasked era albums to attain that status officially... |
|
| HOT IN THE SHADE | |
| Certified 12/20/89 Notes: This album is apparently also rumored to be Platinum... |
|
| REVENGE | |
| Certified 7/20/92 | |
| KISS Alive III | |
| Certified 10/27/94 | |
| MTV Unplugged | |
| Certified 10/18/96 Notes: ... |
|
| YOU WANTED THE BEST | |
| Certified 5/21/97 | |
| Greatest KISS | |
| Uncertified | |
| CARNIVAL OF SOULS | |
| Uncertified | |
| PSYCHO CIRCUS | |
| Certified 10/22/98 Notes: Struggled to attain certification even with #3 chart debut... |
|
| DETROIT ROCK CITY | |
| Uncertified Since KISS is the primary artist on this soundtrack, the album is included here... |
|
| THE BOX SET | |
| Certified 12/18/2001 Notes: The sets 5 discs meant that the box only had to ship 100,000 copies for Gold certification... |
|
| THE VERY BEST OF KISS | |
| Uncertified Notes: Time will tell if all the advertizing helps this compilation... |
|
| KISS SYMPHONY, ALIVE IV | |
| Uncertified Notes: Does not qualify for X2 accounting since it doesn't meet the 100 minutes criteria... |
|
| (MILLENIUM EDITION) THE BEST OF KISS, VOLUME 1 | |
| Uncertified Notes: n/a... |
|
| (MILLENIUM EDITION) THE BEST OF KISS, VOLUME 2 | |
| Uncertified Notes: n/a... |
|
| KISS GOLD | |
| Uncertified Notes: n/a... |
Singles: BETH/Detroit Rock City Gold, 6/77 I WAS MADE FOR LOVIN' YOU/Hard Times Gold, 8/79 Videos: Animalize Alive Gold (2/12/86) Platinum (10/1/87) Exposed Gold (7/23/87) Platinum (10/1/87) Crazy Nights Gold (3/29/91) X-treme Close Up Gold (10/23/92) Platinum (6/6/95) Konfidential Gold (10/13/93) KISS My Ass Gold Unplugged Gold (5/15/96) Psycho Circus Gold (11/23/98) Platinum (1/13/99) Second Coming Gold (1/13/99) Platinum (1/13/99) KISS Symphony Gold (10/14/03) Platinum (10/14/03) 2X Platinum (12/02/03) Notes: KISS have 1 multi-platinum, 6 platinum, and 9 Gold videos...
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