An album is certified platinum when it achieves a specific number of sales or equivalent units. In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sets this threshold at 1 million units sold. These units include physical sales, digital album sales, and streaming equivalents. For streaming, 1,500 on-demand audio or video streams of songs from the album count as one album sale equivalent. Thus, an album can earn platinum status by selling one million physical or digital copies, or by accumulating enough streams to equate to one million album sales.
The certification process involves the music label submitting sales and streaming data for verification by the RIAA, and upon confirmation, the album is awarded a platinum plaque to recognize its achievement.