Can someone explain to me Wikipedia's "claimed" and "certified" sales?

[Xgongiviguess 396]

Okay so according to wiki, Gaga's claimed sales are 114M and the certified units are 94.8. Katy Perry's claimed sales are 92M but her certified sales are 117.5.

Why is it that her claimed sales are less than her certified ones when everyone else's claimed sales are MUCH higher than their certified. (like Pink Floyd 118M certified, claimed 250M) in that case shouldn't Katy just claim she sold 250M and be on the top sellers of the list if she's only 500K away from PF's certified sales? 

and The Rolling Stones who's certified sales are 95M claim they sold 200M, why doesn't Gaga claim she sold 200M and get up the list as well and be with the likes of Queen, ABBA and Whitney? ABBA's certified sales are 60M for heaven's sake. yet they claimed 200M.

it's so confusing...

 

EDIT: this is the list I'm talking about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_music_artists

[venusfly 17,885]

"Claimed Sales" are sales that get mentioned by people like Billboard in their articles, for example Billboard claim ARTPOP sold 2.5 million copies, but there arent RIAA statistics to back it up.

"Certified Sales" are sales that have been sent to companies like RIAA to get a certification, such as platinum, and are actually proven to be real sales

[Bear 7,515]

Payola 

But joking aside, in the notes section it says "Certified sales might sometimes be larger than actual sales, if stores order more albums than they are able to sell"  so perhaps she is only claiming actual sales to customers, which is one possible reason I guess. If not that I don't know, I don't understand why you'd claim less than you actually sold 

[Xgongiviguess 396]

Just now, LG said:

"Claimed Sales" are sales that get mentioned by people like Billboard in their articles, for example Billboard claim ARTPOP sold 2.5 million copies, but there arent RIAA statistics to back it up.

"Certified Sales" are sales that have been sent to companies like RIAA to get a certification, such as platinum, and are actually proven to be real sales

Where does Billboard get its claims though?

[venusfly 17,885]

Just now, Sir Stansalot said:

Where does Billboard get its claims though?

I'm not sure on that one

[Pharamon 6,839]

Claimed = not confirmed officially.

Certified = confirmed with a proof to back it up

 

[Serendipity 7,821]

1 minute ago, Sir Stansalot said:

Where does Billboard get its claims though?

Nielsen Sounscan, a guy called Gary Trust upadtes them every once in a while.

[Xgongiviguess 396]

Just now, Skrill said:

Claimed = not confirmed officially.

Certified = confirmed with a proof to back it up

 

I get that, but why wouldn't Gaga and Katy claim they sold more if ABBA sold 60M but claim 200M? 

[Xgongiviguess 396]

1 minute ago, LG said:

I'm not sure on that one

if they get their claims from record labels then Interscope could easily say ARTPOP said 20M, and she would jump up the list. I seriously don't get it

[Pharamon 6,839]

Just now, Sir Stansalot said:

I get that, but why wouldn't Gaga and Katy claim they sold more if ABBA sold 60M but claim 200M? 

Because maybe they just dont care about sales ( i mean Gaga at least)

[Serendipity 7,821]

An album certified 2XPlat can sell 2.1M or 2.8, but still be 2M

If they ship extra 100k, they can certify it 3XPlat, but won't have 100k to back it up  

[Xgongiviguess 396]

Just now, Baby Blue said:

An album certified 2XPlat can sell 2.1M or 2.8, but still be 2M

If they shipextra 10k, they can certify it 3XPlat, but won't have 100k to back it up  

So basically ABBA shipped 200M but only sold 60M of that?

[Xgongiviguess 396]

1 minute ago, Skrill said:

Because maybe they just dont care about sales ( i mean Gaga at least)

 

[Serendipity 7,821]

Just now, Sir Stansalot said:

So basically ABBA shipped 200M but only sold 60M of that?

only for US stats  

Nielsen doesn't count outside US afaik  

 

the shipped copies may all be sold out, or may lie on shelves for decades, we may never know, but they count in RIAA, but not Nielsen  

[Xgongiviguess 396]

3 minutes ago, Baby Blue said:

only for US stats  

Nielsen doesn't count outside US afaik  

 

the shipped copies may all be sold out, or may lie on shelves for decades, we may never know, but they count in RIAA, but not Nielsen  

So Gaga can ship 500M albums in the US and Wikipedia would consider them as "claimed" sales and put her on top of the list?