Recording Industry Association of Japan

The Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) (日本レコード協会) is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969.

The RIAJ's activities include promotion of music sales, enforcement of copyright law, and research related to the Japanese music industry. It publishes the annual RIAJ Year Book, a statistical summary of each year's music sales, as well as distributing a variety of other data.

Headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, the RIAJ has twenty member companies and a smaller number of associate and supporting members; some member companies are the Japanese branches of multinational corporations headquartered elsewhere.

The association is responsible for certifying gold and platinum albums and singles in Japan.

RIAJ Certification
In 1989, the Recording Industry Association of Japan introduced the music recording certification systems. It is awarded based on shipment figures of compact disc or cassette tape which was reported by record labels. In principle, the criteria are limitedly applied to the materials released after January 21, 1989.

Certification awards
Currently, all music sales including singles, albums, digital download singles are on the same criteria. Unlike many countries, the highest certification is called "Million".

Old criteria (until June 2003)
Before the unification of criteria and introduction of music videos category in July 2003, a separate scale had been used for certification awards.

Digital certifications
Certifications for songs and albums released digitally began on September 20, 2006, using download data collected since the early 2000s. From 2006 until 2013, there were three categories for certifications: Chaku-uta (着うた（R）), Chaku-uta Full (着うたフル（R）) (i.e. a download to a cellphone) and PC Haishin (PC配信) for songs purchased on services such as iTunes. On February 28, 2014, the Chaku-uta Full and PC categories were merged to create the Single Track (シングルトラック) category.

While digital album certifications are possible, only a few albums have received this certification since the RIAJ began awarding it, including the 2011 Songs for Japan charity album, and Hikaru Utada's sixth studio album Fantôme. In 2021, Ayumi Hamasaki's A Complete: All Singles (2008) became the first album released in the 2000s to receive digital certification.

Streaming only
As of April 2020, RIAJ has begun to certify songs for streaming, just how it does for physical shipments and digital download sales.

Unlike physical shipments and digital download sales, the streaming certifications have their own levels, due to the higher amount of streams compared to the other formats.

Main members

 * Avex Group1
 * Avex Entertainment
 * Avex Digital (supporting member)
 * Being Inc.
 * Dreamusic Incorporated
 * For Life Music
 * Geneon Universal Entertainment1
 * King Records1
 * Bellwood Records (supporting member)
 * King Records International (supporting member)
 * Nippon Columbia
 * Columbia Marketing (supporting member)
 * Nippon Crown1
 * Pony Canyon1
 * Exit Tunes (associate member)
 * Sony Music Entertainment Japan1
 * Ariola Japan (supporting member)
 * DefStar Records (supporting member)
 * Epic Records Japan (supporting member)
 * Ki/oon Records (supporting member)
 * SME Records (supporting member)
 * Sony Music Artists (supporting member)
 * Sony Music Associated Records (supporting member)
 * Sony Music Direct (supporting member)
 * Sony Music Distribution (supporting member)
 * Sony Music Japan International (supporting member)
 * Sony Music Records (supporting member)
 * Teichiku Entertainment1
 * Tokuma Japan Communications1
 * Universal Music Group1
 * EMI Music Japan1
 * VAP Inc.1
 * Victor Entertainment1
 * Warner Music Group1
 * Yamaha Music Communications
 * Yoshimoto R&C

Associate members

 * Amuse Soft Entertainment
 * HATS Unlimited
 * Johnny and Associates
 * J Storm
 * Johnny's Entertainment
 * Konami Digital Entertainment
 * Bandai Visual
 * Lantis (main member)
 * LD&K Records
 * Naxos Records
 * Pryaid Records1
 * Stardust Records
 * Space Shower Networks
 * Spiritual Beast
 * Venus Records
 * Village Again Association
 * NBC Universal Entertainment Japan
 * KISS Entertainment
 * Rambling Records
 * Gambit
 * Croix

Supporting members

 * Aniplex (subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment Japan)
 * Crown-Tokuma Music (joint venture of Nippon Crown and Tokuma Japan Communications)
 * Free Board
 * Holiday Japan
 * Jei One
 * NPPDevelop
 * T-Toc Records
 * TV Asahi Music
 * Ward Records
 * Toys Factory
 * Aceforce Entertainment
 * Kino Music

1Member, International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.