User talk:Harout72/Archive 8

French chart position for Eros Ramazzotti's "Perfetto"
For the French albums chart one could say there is three different sources, all giving different results.

On Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique (SNEP) website there are two charts, one that lists all album sales - both physical and digital sales - as well as one that only lists the physical sales. On the combined chart "Perfetto" is at number 12, on physical only sales chart it is at number 15. For some reason the charts on SNEP website leave out the compilation albums which were some years ago added to the main chart. The charts published on the Pure Charts/Charts In France-website however have the compilation albums included on the chart, and that chart is listed as the "Classement officiel des ventes d'albums en France" (Official chart of album sales in France). It's compiled by GFK Music for SNEP and is the official chart. The "Pure Charts by Charts in France"-website is published in cooperation with Société des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique (SACEM) and SNEP, which makes one wonder why SNEP have different charts on their website which only differs by their chart missing all the various artists-compilations. The charts on Les Charts-website uses the official albums charts, i.e. the one published on the Charts In France-website, as does Billboard and other that publish the charts. On that chart Ramazzotti's "Perfetto" debuts this week at #16, which should be the one used in the discography here.

Kai81 (talk) 16:22, 21 May 2015 (UTC)
 * OK I'll take your word for it.--Harout72 (talk) 17:16, 21 May 2015 (UTC)

Barbra Streisand's album sales and record sales
The same news agencies had been publishing 140 million albums for Barbra  ( http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/6276710/The-way-she-was-Barbra-Streisands-personal-items-up-for-auction.html ) "Streisand has sold more than 140 million albums worldwide during her singing caree",if you used 145 million record fo Barbra,it means she only sold 5 million sales for singles? It's inpossible,Barbra sold at least 15 million in US alone(for 60s and 70s, Gold or P cer for 1 million or 2 million sales),you shouldn't mix album sales and record sales. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Skkywill (talk • contribs) 04:27, 26 May 2015 (UTC)
 * Sources sometimes use the term Albums instead of Records, but they all mean to speak of overall records sales, not just albums sales. While lot of the sources in 2013 used the term Albums when speaking of Streisand's total sales, there were others that used the term Records including Times of Oman, The Times of Israel. Even the 240 million figure is sometimes published by some as Albums including The Washington Post. But they all talk about the overall total sales.--Harout72 (talk) 14:34, 26 May 2015 (UTC)

Alexandra Stan discography
According to Hit Parade Italia, Stan has more Chart-peaks in Italy. Check this out: http://www.hitparadeitalia.it/search/index.html?cx=partner-pub-9635531430093553%3A8g6efyj9vxg&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=Alexandra+Stan&sa=Cerca (Cartoon network freak) 15:32, 4 June 2015 (UTC)

Reference errors on 7 June
Hello, I'm ReferenceBot. I have automatically detected that an edit performed by you may have introduced errors in referencing. as follows: Please check this page and fix the errors highlighted. If you think this is a false positive, you can [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?action=edit&preload=User:A930913/RBpreload&editintro=User:A930913/RBeditintro&minor=&title=User_talk:A930913&preloadtitle=ReferenceBot%20–%20&section=new report it to my operator]. Thanks, ReferenceBot (talk) 00:32, 8 June 2015 (UTC)
 * On the Mr. Saxobeat page, [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?diff=665905603 your edit] caused a broken reference name (help) . ([ Fix] | [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Help_desk&action=edit&section=new&preload=User:ReferenceBot/helpform&preloadtitle=Referencing%20errors%20on%20%5B%5BSpecial%3ADiff%2F665905603%7CMr. Saxobeat%5D%5D Ask for help])

Certified sales
Hello Harout. I see you've been doing lots of maintenance on List of best-selling music artists and have documents of certified sales. Do you have documents for Demi Lovato and/or Katy Perry? It would be useful for their discography articles. Snuggums (talk / edits) 03:48, 17 June 2015 (UTC)
 * I have detailed certified sales for Katy Perry, here it is.--Harout72 (talk) 03:59, 17 June 2015 (UTC)
 * Thank you :) Snuggums (talk / edits) 04:03, 17 June 2015 (UTC)

Talkback
Callanecc (talk • contribs • logs) 12:41, 13 July 2015 (UTC)

4 Minutes
Harout, Madonna's Japanese certification do you have a direct link for it? I think you updated the best-selling artist page for Madonna. — Indian: BIO  [ ChitChat  ] 06:38, 21 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Yeap, it was posted on the month of June.--Harout72 (talk) 13:02, 21 July 2015 (UTC)

Beyonce's Sales Update
It has been confirmed even on Beyonce's Wikipedia page that she has sold over 114 millon records. For the past 2-3 years ( or maybe even longer ) you have left it in the 70 millon mark. Even after her fifth album was realeased in December 2013 the number was never changed. So can you please answer why you have updated Taylor Swift's numbers various times, but have left Beyonce's exactly the same which in the year 2015 is false ? Heartblaster18 (talk) 17:46, 25 July 2015 (UTC)
 * If you're referring to the List of best-selling music artists, then you should read the lead of the list, which clearly explains that artists listed or to be listed need certain amount of certified sales required based on the first year of their charting.--Harout72 (talk) 18:09, 25 July 2015 (UTC)

PROMUSICAE certification award for Cola Song
"Cola Song" (a song by Romanian singer-songwriter Inna released mid 2014) was a commercial success in Europe and became a certification award by PROMUSICAE. But was it certified Gold (like in the article "JBalvin discography"), Platinum (like in the article "Inna discography") or 2x Platinum (like in the article "Cola Song")? All articles link to But in that week, there's no listed certification for "Cola Song". Can you help me?

Cartoon network freak (talk) 07:43, 26 July 2015 (UTC)
 * That song seems to have been certified only Platinum in Spain. See SEMANA 01: del 29.12.2014 al 04.01.2015.--Harout72 (talk) 17:07, 26 July 2015 (UTC)

Beyonce Record Sales
Why haven't Beyonce record sales been updated? She has sold 118mil records but it has her at 75mil records. Triple8991 (talk) 11:01, 3 August 2015 (UTC)

Michael Bolton to the best-selling artists list
Harout... I'm embarrassed to bring this topic to the public talk page of the list but since a lot of artists has been kick out from the list such as Spice Girls, motley crue, scorpions. Is it possible to bring michael bolton to the list since he's one of my favorite singer.

We can use this source (http://www.trinidadexpress.com/sunday-mix/Michael-Bolton-coming-again-for-Mother-s-Day-296299981.html?m=y&smobile=y&clmob=y&c=n) for his 75m-records and you also said his 38 million certification is quite enough to support 75 million records.

I need your consideration. thanks.. Politsi (talk) 07:48, 25 August 2015 (UTC)
 * Politsi, we've talked about this already, actually I think more than once.--Harout72 (talk) 13:03, 25 August 2015 (UTC)

Taylor Swift at List of best-selling music artists
Hi, i'm sorry for being disruptive, however I have found certifications for taylor. Philippines 9x platinum-Fearless (135,000) https://www.facebook.com/mcamusic/photos/a.10150129542058617.288822.107039608616/10150129542118617/?type=3&theater

Austria (30,000) http://www.ifpi.at/?section=goldplatin Fearless-gold IKYWT-gold 1989-platinum — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ashthomson12345 (talk • contribs) 10:45, 19 September 2015 (UTC)

http://www.fimi.it/certificazioni#/category:singoli/year:2015/page:0/term:TAYLOR SWIFT 100,000 SHAKE IT OFF-platinum Blank space-gold WANEGBT-gold

http://www.abpd.hospedagemdesites.ws/home/certificados/?busca_artista=Taylor+Swift 100,000 Red-gold Speak Now-gold

SWI-90,000 http://hitparade.ch/search_certifications.asp?search=Taylor+Swift BS-gold IKYWT-plat SIO-plat 1989-gold

Also can you retotal the UK certs I'm getting 5.5m — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ashthomson12345 (talk • contribs) 11:10, 19 September 2015 (UTC)


 * I'm not sure if you read my post carefully at Talk:List of best-selling music artists, but in order for a certain music market to be added, it needs to have at least 100,000 certified units. Therefore, some markets are still left out including:
 * Austria (total of which is 45,000 units). [Fearless=Gold (15,000 units), "I Knew You Were Trouble"=Gold (15,000 units), 1989=Platinum (15,000 units)].
 * Italy (total of which is 60,000). ["We Are Never Getting..."=Gold (15,000 units), "Shake It Off"=Platinum (30,000 units), "Blank Space"=Gold (15,000 units)]. See Italy's earlier levels here.
 * Brazil (total of which is 40,000 units). [Speak Now=Gold (20,000 units), Red=Gold (20,000 units)]. See Brazil's certification levels here for all periods.
 * Switzerland (total=85,000 units). [1989=Gold (10,000 units), "I Knew You Were Trouble"=Platinum (30,000 units), "Shake It Off"=Platinum (30,000 units), "Blank Space"=Gold (15,000 units)]. See Swiss certification-levels here.


 * As for Philippines' 9x Platinum, we'll add it when it appears here. The UK's total seems to be correct on my document.--Harout72 (talk) 15:02, 19 September 2015 (UTC)

Give Me Your Everything
Hi there! May you can review Give Me Your Everything against the GA criteria? All the best and thanks in advance. (talk) 14:05, 22 September 2015 (UTC)

Spice (album)
OK, I see what you mean. But considering that there is no such country named Holland, and that name obviously used wrongly instead of the Netherlands, which is a real country while the article also refers to the MegaCharts, which is national and not restricted to the Holland region, why not simply correct the error? Fnorp (talk) 13:37, 14 October 2015 (UTC)
 * It says Dutch Charts for the peaks.--Harout72 (talk) 01:13, 15 October 2015 (UTC)
 * Ehm ok.... And how is that an answer to my question? Fnorp (talk) 04:25, 15 October 2015 (UTC)
 * You are asking whether Holland should be replaced with The Netherlands, correct?. Well, the tables have Dutch peaks for chart positions and they say, Dutch Albums Charts. Where do you see it say ''Holland"?--Harout72 (talk) 13:06, 15 October 2015 (UTC)
 * At the very exact spot where I removed it before I alphabetically replaced it with Netherlands, under Certifications. Fnorp (talk) 16:35, 15 October 2015 (UTC)
 * I corrected it. My apologies for the confusion. I was under the impression that you added it and not removed Holland and replaced it with Netherlands. I should have looked at your edit more carefully.--Harout72 (talk) 01:32, 16 October 2015 (UTC)
 * Thank you. Fnorp (talk) 06:31, 16 October 2015 (UTC)

Sources vs. truth and usefulness
I have made over 250,000 edits to Wikipedia since 2002. I wrote some of its policies. The falacious idea that the presence or absence of sources is more important than whether information is relevant or true is one of the three major reasons why, like the vast majority of people who have ever contributed to Wikipedia, I no longer do so on a regular basis. Because the English Wikipedia loses most of its good contributors due to three fundamental flaws in its polices and practices it stopped improving seven or eight years ago, but it is a waste of time to hope that these flaws will ever be fixed now. 86.31.123.65 (talk) 03:13, 17 October 2015 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free image File:GfK Entertainment (logo).png
 Thanks for uploading File:GfK Entertainment (logo).png. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. --B-bot (talk) 02:46, 18 October 2015 (UTC)

No Mercy
Hello Harout. I notice on No Mercy (pop band), you are currently in breach of WP:3RR by having made four reverts within a 24-hour period. These are, , and. This can actually get you blocked because it is not reverting vandalism. Perrsonally I do not speak French so I have no idea whether the translation is correct or not but in your case I would recommend self-reverting and then inviting the other party (User:Hopehoppy) to discuss it on the talkpage. If he doesn't show up after so long then by all means revert back to your version without the translation. Thanks. 54321Mark (talk) 17:27, 19 October 2015 (UTC)

ArbCom elections are now open!
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:30, 23 November 2015 (UTC)

MC
Hey bud. You seemed to have added to Carey's total certifications tally without updating her Australian cert numbers?-- Peter Griffin  &bull;  Talk2Me   20:38, 25 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks for bringing it to my attention, I corrected it.--Harout72 (talk) 22:15, 25 December 2015 (UTC)
 * All I Want for Christmas Is You has now been certified triple-platinum in Australia. Not sure if you included that in the tally. Cheers.-- Peter Griffin  &bull;  Talk2Me   12:39, 26 December 2015 (UTC)
 * I just updated it.--Harout72 (talk) 17:12, 26 December 2015 (UTC)

Happy New Year, Harout!

 * Thanks very much, I wish Happy New Year to you as well :).--Harout72 (talk) 16:33, 2 January 2016 (UTC)

Happy New Year!

 * Thank you, Happy New Year.--Harout72 (talk) 16:34, 2 January 2016 (UTC)

David Guetta discography
My reliable source was other Wikipedia pages. Nathanaelsadgrove (talk) 22:14, 2 January 2016 (UTC)
 * You cannot use wikipedia pages to support your additions. See Reliable source examples.--Harout72 (talk) 22:24, 2 January 2016 (UTC)

Britney Spears Claimed Sales
Hi @Harout72, Happy new year! first off I want to offer an apology, sorry isn't my intention to cause any damage to the article,  I was editing it on based on this recently reference = http://www.closeronline.co.uk/2015/06/win-a-trip-to-see-britney-spears-live-in-las-vegas also i did some research and Mrs. Spears has sold a total of 200 million Records sales if we counted all her sales : albums, singles, DVDs and video homes, the attached reference in the article is in 100 million mark bases in album sales alone. In addition, other sources:

https://quizlet.com/75010308/women-in-music-flash-cards/

http://bstars.eu/item/britney-spears.html

http://latestnewsresource.com/en/news/u-britni-spirs-rasstegnulsja-poluprozrachnyj-kombinezon-na-stsene

http://www.famoussingers.org/britney-spears

Thanks :)

--Tialogen (talk) 14:32, 4 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Happy New Year. As for your sources, they are not reliable, and we don't update artists' sales figures unless the gap between the certified sales and currently listed sales figure narrows down significantly. Also, List of best-selling music artists requires certain percentage of certified sales for all artists based on their first year of charting. Everything I just mentioned is in fact in the lead of the list. So you should not have edited the list without reading it. Having said all that, Britney Spears needs her claimed figures supported by 69.4% certified sales, which means for a claim as high as 200 million, she'd need 138 million certified units.--Harout72 (talk) 22:30, 4 January 2016 (UTC)

--Harout72 but according wikipedia ABBA only have a total available 57.8 million certified units and they're in the 200 million mark --Tialogen (talk) 00:08, 5 January 2016 (UTC)
 * The details of the requirements are on the talk page, in the second yellow box from the top. ABBA have begun charting in 1972, for that reason, the required percentage for them is only 20%. The required percentage amount goes up after 1975, because more and more music markets began instituting certification systems after that point.--Harout72 (talk) 00:22, 5 January 2016 (UTC)

Madonna Japan
Hi Harout, can you let me know which exact months can I see Madonna's certifications for Japan in the Japan database? For Erotica and GHV2. — Indian: BIO  [ ChitChat  ] 15:22, 7 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Erotica is certified 2x Platinum in November 1994, and GHV2 is certified Platinum in December 2001.--Harout72 (talk) 15:31, 7 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Thanks a lot. — Indian: BIO  [ ChitChat  ] 15:38, 7 January 2016 (UTC)
 * You're welcome.--Harout72 (talk) 15:40, 7 January 2016 (UTC)

Madonna Hard Candy
Harout can you let me know what certification have you stored Madonna's Hard Candy for UK? I can see that the BPI has listed it as Gold in their database, but in their year end report, it was listed as being certified Silver, Gold, Platinum on the same date of September 2008. Can it be that the BPI is potentially missing the certification from their database? The last reported sales for the album is over 330,000 so it makes sense that it has to be certified platinum. — Indian: BIO  [ ChitChat  ] 14:09, 17 January 2016 (UTC)
 * BPI has it as Gold (100,000 units), so naturally that's what I have included on the list and my file. Where is that year end report?--Harout72 (talk) 15:55, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

Some more Australian (ARIA) certifications pre-1997
Hi, I've scanned some more pages from Gavin Ryan's book for pre-1997 Australian (ARIA) certifications for several artists listed on the List of best-selling music artists page, if you (or another user) feel inclined to add these to the tally (N.B. these certifications are only accurate to July 2011). I've uploaded the scans (38 .jpg files) as a .rar file here - https://www.mediafire.com/?4eqe44om9h9pg7h Nqr9 (talk) 03:50, 11 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Ok I managed to view them but I'm unable to print them out in order to make separate PDF file for each artists. Will it be too much trouble to upload them the way you uploaded Mariah Carey's page?--Harout72 (talk) 05:29, 11 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Ok never mind, I managed to print them out. I will add their certifications in the next week. Thanks.--Harout72 (talk) 05:37, 11 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Thanks! The scans cover most, but not all, of the artists on the page who had singles or albums certified between 1989 and 1996 inclusive.Nqr9 (talk) 07:15, 11 January 2016 (UTC)
 * These should help us illustrate Australia's certifications more accurately at the List of best.... I appreciate it.--Harout72 (talk) 13:43, 11 January 2016 (UTC)
 * If you'd like to access a pdf of the whole book, from which you can take clearer screen-shots/make clearer print-offs from if you wish to do so, and/or add additional certifications for other artists listed on the page who I've not previously scanned the pages for, please send a message via my youtube channel - https://www.youtube.com/user/ohnoitisnathan33 (or, alternatively, that username at gmail.com). I didn't want to post a link here so that others could download it.Nqr9 (talk) 00:54, 18 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Thanks very much, I might contact you one of these days.--Harout72 (talk) 21:42, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

Bubbling Under chart
I know your original concern was with unreferenced positions, but thanks for being one of the few users who understands that the positions on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart are not a simple extension of the Hot 100. Apparently it was considered so by Billboard between 1961 and 1985, but now it's published separately and while Billboard could still consider it an extension by marking #1 as #101, they don't, so anyone claiming so would be providing original research. Again, thanks!  Ss 112  11:03, 24 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Thank you also for stepping in that AN/I discussion and providing your explanation. Unfortunately, we seem to have lot of editors who believe that Bubbling Under chart serve as extensions.--Harout72 (talk) 17:12, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

More thanks!
Thank you for reporting ADCDL/Cries of Chaos/Hellspring/etc. I noticed the barrage of removals at multiple dance-related artists' pages and thought they were still on the loose but then saw you noticed it too and reported for sockpuppeting. Thanks!  Ss 112  07:59, 28 January 2016 (UTC)
 * No problem, it was necessary.--Harout72 (talk) 13:55, 28 January 2016 (UTC)

Tetsuya Komuro
Hi. :-) I'm sorry for interrupting, but if I could I wanna ask how many certified sales Komuro has sold? In the article about him on Wiki it is written records PRODUCED by him has been sold in excess of 170 million units. I'd like to know how many units it is in certified sales? Thank you. Pinoczet (talk) 18:59, 30 January 2016 (UTC)
 * I'm sorry, I haven't looked over the available certifications of that artist.--Harout72 (talk) 19:13, 30 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Of course, I understand. :-) Thank you for your answer. But do you think it is possible or rather impossible that his certifications could cover that 170 million produced records sold? I see you know really much about music industry, so maybe your "intuition" can help me. :-) Thanks in advance. Pinoczet (talk) 19:53, 30 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Records produced by Tetsuya Komuro aren't going to be easy to track down, unless you're someone very familiar with the records produced by him. I normally look at the Gold and Platinum certifications of those artists whose certifications I notice on consistent bases, while going over other artists' certified sales. I have to say that I haven't noticed certifications posted for Tetsuya Komuro in RIAJ's databases, or maybe he has some but they haven't necessarily stood out for me in order to look over his detailed certified sales. So I could answer your question saying that as a solo artists, he's most probably not sold enough records to come anywhere close to 170 million. But if sources claim that the 170 million figure is both for his solo records sales and also those that he's produced, I'm afraid I couldn't answer that.--Harout72 (talk) 20:23, 30 January 2016 (UTC)

MTV Unplugged
Hey Harout. Oddly, I've never seen this, but the RIAA has Unplugged listed at four-times Platinum whereas I've only ever seen three. Take a look please and see what you make of it. Look under more details. As a point of reference, here is Carey's full list of certifications page. Cheers.-- Peter Griffin  &bull;  Talk2Me   11:53, 30 January 2016 (UTC)
 * I've only seen three times Platinum too for 1,500,000 units. This is odd, because the fourth Platinum isn't new, I guess they'd never posted it in their database. I wonder if RIAA has added certifications for other artists also. I'll add it on my file and also on the list. Thanks for bring this up.--Harout72 (talk) 16:31, 30 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Thanks mate. Can you tell me the criterion threshold for EPs? I wasn't aware there was one. Here's what's weird. SoundScan has it at like 2.7-2.8 million in sales and we thought at triple platinum, so how do we square that? Could they possibly have meant standard quad-plat?-- Peter Griffin  &bull;  Talk2Me   02:48, 31 January 2016 (UTC)
 * The levels for EPs, certified before Sep. 1996 were Gold=250,000, Platinum=500,000. All EPs certified after Sep. 1996 are treated with the same levels as full length albums (see this article). Well, RIAA has certified 4x Platinum for 2 million units back in 1994, when the levels were still lower than standard albums' levels. I see the soundscan figures is at 2.7 million. With old criteria, that's 5x Plat., but I'm not sure if that album reached that sales figure after Sep. 1996 or before. Were RIAA to certified that now, it would be only 2x Platinum. But I don't think they'd do that.--Harout72 (talk) 03:03, 31 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Hey buddy. Can you link me to your Mariah Carey compilation list of certs? Cheers-- Peter Griffin  &bull;  Talk2Me   18:04, 5 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Here it is.--Harout72 (talk) 20:06, 5 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Mate, I think you missed Daydream 5 times Plat in Australia. Also, why are the New Zealand numbers all Plat or less? Many went 5 times Plat etc. Aside from that it really looks fantastic and I think you did a great job.-- Peter Griffin  &bull;  Talk2Me   21:09, 6 February 2016 (UTC)
 * I added the 5x Plat. for "Daydream". As for NZ certs, I have used the Chart (http://nztop40.co.nz/), and that's all I could find. At Mariah's Discography, I see Mariah Carey album is listed as 5x Plat., how? It is just Plat. after 56 weeks on chart. The same goes to Music Box listed as 5x Plat. on her discography. It's just Platinum after being 76 weeks on the chart. Follow all of the weeks that I have posted next to NZ certs, and you'll see that they are all correct.--Harout72 (talk) 21:57, 6 February 2016 (UTC)--Harout72 (talk) 21:51, 6 February 2016 (UTC)

Question
For the Madonna "Miles Away" certification that you added, I understood that the Cell (100,000) and PC downloads (100,000) are combined for a platinum (250,000) certification. So you added another extra 50,000. But there was a mastertone certification of 2x platinum. Is it still added to the tally? — I B  [ Poke  ] 14:29, 19 February 2016 (UTC)
 * There were three different types of formats, Full R, R and PC Download. Full R and PC Download formats are combined into one, when re-certified. RIAJ started doing this in January 2014, see the bottom of this page. The 2x Platinum for R format for "Miles Away" is also added in her Japanese total, which is certified in July 2008.--Harout72 (talk) 01:42, 20 February 2016 (UTC)

A Barnstar for You

 * Thanks for the barnstar. I'm just glad other editors who previously had noticed disruptions by Funkatastic, stepped in also.--Harout72 (talk) 13:58, 29 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Me too. Awilley informed me that Kww also played an instrumental part in the matter.  I plan to reward him with a Diligence Barnstar, as well.  Once again, thanks for your service, and happy editing!   ~Lord Laitinen~ (talk)  04:25, 1 March 2016 (UTC)

Inna's Italy peaks
Hi there! Can you please search through the FIMI archives for Inna chart peaks like you did for Alexandra Stan long time ago? Thanks!! Cartoon network freak (talk) 13:41, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

Artist sales
Hi Harout! I'd like to know, if it's not a problem, if you could tell me the worldwide sales based on certifications by Jennifer Lopez, Green Day and Miley Cyrus, and if there's any chance they could make it onto the list. Thanks in advance.--Fallengrademan (talk) 23:24, 25 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Jennifer Lopez's certified sales are 32.470 million, and that amount of certified sales could only support 46.7 million sales as artists who've begun charting in 1999 need 69.4% certified sales.
 * Green Day's certified sales are 47 million, and that figure can support 70.7 million in sales, as all artists that have begun charting in 1994 need their claimed figures supported by 66.4% certified sales.
 * So, for the time being only Green Day have the change of getting on the list. I haven't gone over Miley Cyrus' certified sales.--Harout72 (talk) 01:12, 26 April 2016 (UTC)

WikiProject Alexandra Stan
Hi there! I'm writing this message to you in order to invite you to the WikiProject Alexandra Stan I've recently created. Your accompany would be efficient for fixing grammar and style issues and overall improve the coverage of the Romanian artist. Best, Cartoon network freak (talk) 08:56, 23 May 2016 (UTC)

Billboards Music Awards 2016
Billboards Music Awards 2016 paid a tribute to Britney Spears career and they update her sales claiming she has sold 146 million records in the intro of her tribute. https://twitter.com/FataleSong/status/734580888407662593?lang=es --Tialogen (talk) 22:56, 23 May 2016 (UTC)
 * I'm assuming you wish to see her sales figure changed at the List of best-selling music artists, well, I'm not sure anymore how many times I've said this to you on your own talk page, but that list requires all claimed figured be supported by certain amount of certified sales. The details of the requirements are posted at Talk:List of best-selling music artists, see the large yellow box from the top. First, we don't use anything coming from Twitter, second for an inflated sales figure like 146 million records, Spears would need that supported by 69.4% certified sales, which means she'd need 101.3 million units of certified sales. Her current certified sales stand at 77.3 million from all markets.--Harout72 (talk) 00:27, 24 May 2016 (UTC)

Spears sales aren't inflated in fact are quite outdated because you don't even have her singles sales, second BILLBOARD is a pretty realiable source the same that you require to update and with other artists you simply uses in terms of data sources you ask by the RIAA, Billboard, MTV etc.. on first step but with some artists you placed sources with Zero credibility, that's video was broadcast on international television made by billboard an authority on the music, i'm sorry but have other artists with sales a way more inflated and keeping inflate ever day every day as Rihanna or Taylor Swift  you even counts their streams and britney only in albums alone her sales certrificade are 84M atrl.net/forums/showthread.php?t=103790 and that amount of 77.3 are here since 2009 and you never udaptes in clear contrast with other artists who demonstrating a special interest constantly update their sales in, don't worry I'm assuming that her sales will never be updated here.

PSD: Wikipedia should be moderated by people with no bias considering even more if it comes to artists where everyone have their own personal taste and that's sometimes can prevail although the majority considers the information here is not always reliable, they use it as a source. --Tialogen (talk) 12:13, 24 May 2016 (UTC) --Tialogen (talk) 12:23, 24 May 2016 (UTC)
 * All of her certified sales are included, singles, albums and videos. And they are all up to date. Her certified sales from all of the markets are as follows 52.5 million albums, 22.6 million singles, 2.1 million videos. There are lot of singles that have yet to be certified by the RIAA, once they are certified, we can list Britney Spears with higher claimed figure. For the time being, that's all the certified sales she has.--Harout72 (talk) 13:22, 24 May 2016 (UTC)

Sales updates
Hello :) For britney spears, does she not come under the older artists section? Sorry for making an edit without discussing it first though. Also in future would it ever be possible to separate records for singles/albums or would that just be inconvenient? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ashthomson12345 (talk • contribs) 00:10, 7 June 2016 (UTC)

Hi, I have a question. Why has the 160 million records by Janet been deleted when it was confirmed by Billboard? When editing, it says 'To ensure the highest level of fact checking and editorial control, this list sources sales figures to news organizations and highly regarded music industry related organizations such as MTV, VH1, Billboard and Rolling Stone.' And one more question. When are the sales by Lady Gaga and Katy Perry going to be updated? Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by BrunzPOP (talk • contribs) 03:06, 5 June 2015 (UTC)
 * The List of best-selling music artists uses the sales claims that are actually closest to artists' available certified sales. This is stated at the end of the list's lead Note that this list uses claimed figures that are closest to artists' available certified units. Inflated claimed figures that meet the required certified units amount but are unrealistically high, are not used.. In the case of Janet Jackson whose certified sales are only 51 million, the 100 million claimed figures are the ones we should use. As for Katy Perry, we are currently waiting for higher claimed figures to be published by reliable sources. Lady Gaga's claimed figure doesn't yet need updating as her certified units are some 17 million units behind the listed claimed figure.--Harout72 (talk) 03:17, 5 June 2015 (UTC)

Hi, how are you? Do you have info about Usher, Adele and Enrique Iglesias? Haven't these 3 artists sold enough by now to be placed in this list? Thank you! — Preceding unsigned comment added by BrunzPOP (talk • contribs) 04:16, 10 July 2015 (UTC)

List of best-selling music artists
Will you kindly explain why you removed my valid and sourced addition to the article ? Clausgroi (talk) 14:45, 15 July 2016 (UTC)
 * That figure is unrealistically high from The Beatles' available certified sales, which stand at 269.5 million units. The lead of the List of best-selling music artists does informs editors that inflated promotional figures are not used. It reads Inflated claimed figures that meet the required certified units amount but are unrealistically high, are not used. Guinness World Records are no experts in sales figures, that figure is given to them by The Beatles' record company. In fact, music sales figures must be analyzed very carefully as the record companies constantly inflate artists' records sales.--Harout72 (talk) 01:12, 16 July 2016 (UTC)
 * I do not disagree with you about anything you said. But the fact is that the article states both "reputed sales" and "claimed sales". It makes no sense to base the reputed or claimed sales on the certified sales because they are different things: the certified sales are the confirmed/registered ones, whilst the reputed or claimed sales are the ones that are just said or written without any real basis. Matter of fact, if I had participated in the creation and early development of the article, the artists would be ranked by the certified sales, never the claimed ones, simply because we can't know if the claimed figures are correct. You say "Guinness World Records are no experts in sales figures", but no source in the article is. There are texts from CNN, BBC, The New Yorker, Daily Telegraph, Los Angeles Times and other well-known newspapers and magazine as well as some unknown, like "The Tuscaloosa News" and "Albany Democrat-Herald". What authority do these sources have to talk about sales figures ? None. So the real question is: where do these sources find these numbers ? Do they just make them up ? The most logical explanation is that they are acquired by inquiring the record companies. That means that, in the end, the same argument you use to disqualify my source is the argument that disqualifies almost all (if not all) sources in the page. As an example, let's take the Beatles' sources. CNN states "According to Apple Corps Ltd., which markets the Beatles worldwide, the Fab Four has sold more than 600 million records, tapes and CDs", that is, they got the figures from their OWN company (Apple was founded by the Beatles). If the Beatles sold 269.4 million (certified), then 600 million already seems inflated, and yet you didn't remove it from the article. The New Yorker, on the other hand, cites no source to say "five hundred million-plus credited to the Beatles". Where did they get this number from ? I hope you can see what I mean. Clausgroi (talk) 17:35, 17 July 2016 (UTC)
 * We never rely on the figures published by sources as they are almost always inflated for promotional purposes, whether it's CNN, BBC or any other prestigious news agency. Therefore, we always look at the available certified sales. But the list's ranking cannot be based on certified sale because until 1973, the US was the only country with certification system. The 1973 is when key markets such as France and the UK established their Gold and Platinum program. Two years after that others including Germany and Canada came up with their certification system. While, The Beatles' earlier records have only partially been certified in other countries with an exception of the US, the 600 million seems more realistic based on their available certifies sales than the 1 billion units. Since the US covers roughly 25-30% of the entire global sales, it varies each year. Considering that The Beatles have 212 million certified units from the US, the rest of the 600 million coming from the rest of the globe is reasonable. And we use only those claimed figures on the list that are closer to artists' certified sales. This is also mentioned in the lead of the list: Note that this list uses claimed figures that are closest to artists' available certified units. Since the List of best-selling music artists might seem too complex for some editors, it's best to discuss on the talk page first before jumping into editing it.--Harout72 (talk) 18:20, 17 July 2016 (UTC)
 * It's not that it's complex, it's very simple, actually: it's flawed. What you are doing is called inference, and an artice should never rely on inferences since they obviously compromise its reliability. You are assuming the figure of 600 million is correct, but you can't simply do that in order to allow yourself to add some content and reject another. Like I said, no source is fully reliable in the sense that they can't know for sure how many records an artist has sold, and that's why they ask the record companies, which probably inflate the numbers a little bit (for instance, TIME has stated Elvis sold 1 billion). Regarding the Beatles, specifically, I don't doubt for a second they might have sold more than 1 billion. It's not unrealistic at all since they are the world's most famous, acclaimed and financially successful band ever. What is necessary to add content to a Wikipedia article is a reliable source that confirms the info, and that I have. What is preventing me is this ridiculous "rule" that you people made up. It makes no sense to allow the article to contain "claimed" or "reputed" sales if they have to be close to the certified sales number, for one reason: "claimed" and "reputed" are terms that exempt themselves from representing the truth necessarily. That means when you say The Beatles "claimed" or "reputed" sales are over 1 billion, you can't garantee that number is right, but neither can you when it comes to the 600 million figure. In the end, all we have are the sources, and they should not be ignored. Clausgroi (talk) 15:54, 18 July 2016 (UTC)
 * My analysis is far from being an assumption. We should not use any sales claim only because they happen to be published by prestigious news agencies. All sales figures should be carefully scrutinized, because record companies do not inflate little bit as you suggest, they inflate figures by tens of millions of units, and in the case of artists such as Michael Jackson, The Beatles, Elvis Presley, the inflation is in hundreds of millions of units. The wikipedia, by the way, itself suggests that the content of sources should be checked and analyzed.--Harout72 (talk) 00:09, 19 July 2016 (UTC)
 * You said "Considering that The Beatles have 212 million certified units from the US, the rest of the 600 million coming from the rest of the globe is reasonable". That is an assumption. I could argue that, since the Beatles are the most famous, prestigious and commercially successful band ever, the figure of 1 billion is also reasonable, but that wouldn't matter because it's just my opinion. What I need is a reliable source to back that up, and I did find that source.
 * You said "All sales figures should be carefully scrutinized", but there's no way to actually do that (not even record associations are able to do that). You did not scrutinise the 600 million sales figure, you assumed it was true based on the sources.
 * You said "We should not use any sales claim only because they happen to be published by prestigious news agencies", but this is exactly what has been done since the beginning of this article. People see figures mentioned in articles by famous magazines, newspapers or websites and add them here.
 * You said "record companies do not inflate little bit as you suggest, they inflate figures by tens of millions of units, and in the case of artists such as Michael Jackson, The Beatles, Elvis Presley, the inflation is in hundreds of millions of units". Exactly, and that's why I said the figure of 600 million was already inflated. That's more than double the certified sales. But you won't remove it from the article, will you ? No, because you assumed it is correct, and then we go back to the first comment I made.
 * Bottom line: either we apply the same rule to all sources and sales figures or the article will be inevitably flawed. We can't choose some sources because we like them or think they're right and reject others because they don't "seem reasonable". All in all, don't forget we are talkng about claimed (or reputed) sales, and, by their very definition, they don't have to be accurate. Clausgroi (talk) 22:39, 21 July 2016 (UTC)


 * If you expect me to continue having this futile argument of yours, the next time you need to come back with something more intelligent than simply repeating everything I've written above, and adding assumption at the end. My argument is based on analysis and years of research. Whereas yours is based on completely inflated sales figure, which in no way corresponds to The Beatles' available certified sales. What's even worse is that you yourself admit that the 1 billion units of sales are reasonable based on your opinion. The rules apply to all artists, in fact, those the same rules have been applied to all artists for many years now. We don't guess or assume anything at the List of best-selling music artists, we use information about music markets, all of which is supported by reliable sources.--Harout72 (talk) 01:54, 22 July 2016 (UTC)

Whitney
Hi, i do not want to bother you, but could you please let me see Whitney Houston´s certified sales. Thank You very much ;)--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 18:08, 29. Jul. 2016 (CET)
 * Yeap, here it is.--Harout72 (talk) 02:10, 30 July 2016 (UTC)

Thank You ;)))))--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 17:50, 30. Jul. 2016 (CET)

Maxx (band)
Hello, i'm in the process of updating things for Maxx online especially their wikipedia. i see you un-did my changes. i know the band members Maxx and the producers.

i'm associated with the producers i know them both. i realize that wikipedia heavily depends on providing credible sources soon there will be alot of 'sources' online that will verify my claims. i will be making ALOT of changes to the maxx page. there is alot of incorrect info about Maxx online. infact Maxx is not a 'band' at all. - they're a duo act. a rapper and singer. a duo. not a band with a drummer, guitar player etc.,

yes the producers/copyright owners of the Maxx name are are GERMAN. Maxx originated in Germany. two german guys created the duo. but the group has been thru many lineup changes and the duo always performed in english. the lead singer is from the UK. she's british. saying they're GERMMAN makes people think that MAXX is based in germany and that maxx is a band that sings in the german langauge. why do i think this? because several people told me and the lead singer that they thought maxx was 'GERMAN.' its misleading. the duo is reforming soon. with the original singer who is british woman and with a new british rapper. they are not 'german' at all. this is the reason i made some small edits.

i plan on making more major changes to the maxx 'band' page. but thanks for helping me understand what i must provide in order to make changes.

Thank You ;)))))--Elysegrogersfan (Talk)
 * Elysegrogersfan, agree that Maxx isn't a band either, it is a dance act, or a dance project. But it is based in Germany, hails from Germany, therefore, the part that says it's a German Eurodance project/act shouldn't be removed. The nationality of the front woman doesn't affect the fact that the act itself is German. I think lot of us are familiar with German dance projects from the '90s especially, almost all of which were fronted by non-Germans. But they all were German dance acts including Culture Beat, La Bouche, Fun Factory, so on so forth. :Harout72 (talk) 12:58, 1 August 2016 (UTC)


 * Harout72 okay fair enough. but i will then change the context of "German" then if you feel it's most important that the description highlight this fact. It's funny because - if you backtrack the edit history...i was the one who added "GERMAN" to that page in this first place.. originally it said group or band. i was the one who added 'GERMAN' + 'EURODANCE' to it. recently the lead singer was having business discussions and the A&R guy she was talking with said "i thought Maxx was just a 'german band' i read it on wikipedia. wow you guys had a following in the UK? wow..ok." - trust me you may think that people don't read wikipedia, but they do. and  sure 90's fans know who maxx is - but alot of new people who are rediscovering european dance music acts like Maxx. don't know the difference because there's also alot of false info online about Maxx. and this 'GERMAN' thing makes it all confusing..its my fault really..i should not have added this.. infact i'm planning on changing the title of the article so that it just says (Maxx) and not (Maxx Band) do you understand now why this is important that this change?Elysegrogersfan (Talk) 1:34, 1 August 2016 (UTC)


 * Well, if you added it yourself, you haven't made a mistake. Why remove it now? I think changing it to Maxx is a good idea, and if I understand it correctly, they still hail from Germany, don't they? So it's still a German act, there is nothing confusing about it.--Harout72 (talk) 00:43, 2 August 2016 (UTC)


 * Harout72 like i said. soon i will return and edit this Maxx page. i will change the context of how i refer to maxx as being from Germany. but as i told you. the lead singer who is in the process of negotiating with the copyright holders to the name Maxx. she is also talking to people in the music world and when they google Maxx they find wikipedia and they say 'oh maxx just is a german band.' this affects Maxx and her negotiations - also the article refers to them in past tense. when infact they will be active again very soon. so they aren't just a mid-90's act anymore from Germany. Sure maxx began there...but its not where it ends. so having a title that says (Maxx (band)) and then German + Eurodance + Act - is not good enough anymore. infact how do i change the title of a wikipedia article and remove the 'band' part? i made the change because i looked at other wikipedia's of other 90's acts - but i now realize they were all written by the same individual, and abviously for that person English is not their 1st language - so just trying to fix that.Elysegrogersfan (Talk)
 * Make sure your additions are well sourced, and they cannot be promotional in nature. As for how to move the article to just Maxx, follow these steps.--Harout72 (talk) 13:04, 2 August 2016 (UTC)


 * Harout72 Well there is an official maxx website coming. and i will be interviewing the orignal producers and the lead singer and the new rapper. i plan on sharing these official interviews on a 90's dance musicfew sites and a few sites that have inform about maxx already. those sites will get updated too. and there will be press releases that will follow so when you say they cannot be 'promotional in nature" what do you mean? also. thanks for that moving a page link. no disrespect but those instructions are complicated. could you give me the general idea behind ,moving a page. clearly i just can't rename the page. what's the general idea. am i just placing the article in a new location on wikipedia? Elysegrogersfan (Talk


 * Well, if you're planning on publishing the interview on a self published web site and use that as a source, I'm afraid that cannot be used, see Verifiability. Here are some more examples as to what types of sources can and/or cannot be used as sources, see Reliable source examples. I can help you move the page myself, but it cannot be called just Maxx as that part can be associated with other articles, see here. Therefore, it has to have an additional specification in parenthesis. I don't think we could call it Maxx (act) as that would not be clear enough as to what kind of act? Music dance act? Human act? etc. How about just leaving it as is?--Harout72 (talk) 02:46, 3 August 2016 (UTC)


 * Harout72 I understand where you're coming from. in that case i can make sure the interviews get published by professional web journalists. Here's my only issue/problem. i can give you atleast three examples of eurodance wikipeida's that do not follow your strict guidelines. have a look at Ray Slijngaard and Anita Doth of the group 2 unlimited bio pages. those pages use IMDB.com, discogs and a so called 'eurodance4ever' blog and self published sites such as narod.com.ru and even amazon as sources or even the group "The Real McCoy" - has outdated links and uses sources that are not even functioning. they also use discogs.com as sources. I understand where you're coming from but why is that i'm being monitored so strictly?. as far as the name - Maxx (eurodance group) or maxx (eurodance project) or maxx (eurodance duo act) or Maxx (eurodance / dance pop act) - they are not a traditional 'band'. also the website for Mr.President (band) has alot of paragraphs but doesn't really source it's claims it has generic 'chart' links like most of the other groups. also i own a series of german language magazines printed in 1994 that reveal things about Maxx. i notice on Mariah Carrey wiki page that the author references 'sources' but those sources are books published about Carrey. basically the references there references to ISBN numbers at the bottom and the above that are page numbers. but those sources are from books not websites. how do i take my articles and use them as sources in the same fashion as the carrey page?Elysegrogersfan (Talk


 * I haven't seen the sources used at those pages, but if I have time I'll get to it. What you can do with the magazines which contain information about Maxx, is you can scan the front cover of the magazine and all the pages that have the info, and then upload the scans on Mediafire.com. As for moving the page, I believe Maxx (Eurodance act) should do.--Harout72 (talk) 13:04, 3 August 2016 (UTC)


 * Hello - i haven't messaged you in a longtime - but i need some advice. i'm trying to edit the 'refereces' section for some pages i want to edit and when i click there i see a blank page. what am i doing wrong? am i not allowed to edit a 'references' section? to ad actual credible sources?Elysegrogersfan (Talk
 * Hi i actually figured out the solution. i apologize, however, i will return later with more questions. about editing articles. Elysegrogersfan (Talk

List of best-selling artist
Harout, I think I have had enough with the bullshit edits of some users on this list. I have been threatened with mal-actions on the list, including trying to suppress info and owning the article because of legitimate concerns that we all have over inflation. I'm sorry but I will be removing the article from my watchlist now. I have many projects that I don't get time to delve on and have no time for pestering users wasting my time. I really like the hard work you put into it and have had great learning regarding the certification of different musical markets. Thanks, and hope you continue your certification collection for the artists on the list. — I B  [ Poke  ] 15:08, 26 July 2016 (UTC)
 * No problem. Thanks for helping out.--Harout72 (talk) 01:10, 27 July 2016 (UTC)
 * We will miss you Cedric.Politsi (talk) 03:32, 11 August 2016 (UTC)

Enigma
Changes applied to source's formatting. Unreliable sources removed, despite possible discussion on the validity of some of their contents regarding the statement present in the subject and scarcity of better sources. More still for me to learn on Wikipedia. – Victor — Preceding unsigned comment added by Victor hoffnung (talk • contribs) 03:48, 26 August 2016 (UTC)

Jennifer Lopez, Backstreet Boys
Hi, Harout. Jennifers last Singles Ain't Your Mama, El Mismo sol and Try Me all received some Certifications. How many Certifications does Jennifer has totally, and how much does she need to be listed with 75 million on the best selling artists list?

and

Could I see the Backstreet Boys certified sales? Thank you ;) --Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 21:04, 16. Sep. 2016 (CET)
 * Backstreet Boys: Here is the file for them.
 * Jennifer Lopez: Her available certified sales are 33 million units. She needs 52 million certified units to be listed with 75 million.--Harout72 (talk) 01:21, 17 September 2016 (UTC)

Thank you very much. For Jennifer, Try Me is certified Platinum in Sweden and 2x Platinum in Norway and Ain´t Your Mama was certified Gold in France. On the Floor and Dance Again were certified Platinum and Gold in Finland.

Norway France Finland ;) --Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 07:51, 17. Sep. 2016 (CET)
 * The certifications for "Try Me" cannot be included as it has two featured artists. The certifications of two featured artists are included only if all vocals are provided by the featured artists. Take a look at the third yellow box from the top at Talk:List of best-selling music artists, I have indicated there which certifications should or shouldn't be included. I will take a look at the rest of the certs you mentioned.--Harout72 (talk) 15:14, 17 September 2016 (UTC)

Chili Peppers
Hi, could you please let me see the Certifications document of the Red Hot Chili Peppers? Thank You and have a great weekend ;))) --Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 20:47, 14. Oct. 2016 (CET)
 * Here you are.--Harout72 (talk) 01:50, 15 October 2016 (UTC)

Enrique Iglesias
Hi, it´s me again ;) sorry to bother you again but how many Certifications would Enrique Iglesias need to be listed on the best selling artits list with 75 or 100 million records and how do his certified sales look like today;)--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 17:26, 15. Oct. 2016 (CET)
 * Iglesias needs his claimed figures supported by 67% certified sales as he's begun charting in 1995. For a 75 million claim that would be 50.2 million certified units needed. Currently his certified sales stand at 38.3 million units.--Harout72 (talk) 15:45, 15 October 2016 (UTC)

Thank You.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 18:56, 15. Oct. 2016 (CET)

Dire Straits
Hello, Harout72. This German article says that Dire Straits have sold 110 million records. Can they be listed with that claim and how do the certifications for the band look like? Thank You --Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 13:38, 23. Oct. 2016 (CET)
 * We shouldn't upgrade their claimed figure unless we see a significant progress in their certified sales. Actually, the current 100 million claim is inflated to based on their 44.4 million certified units.--Harout72 (talk) 16:26, 23 October 2016 (UTC)

Artist sales
Hi Harout! I'd like to know, if it's not a problem, if you could tell me the worldwide sales based on certifications by Gloria Estefan, and if there's any chance she could make it onto the list again. Thanks in advance.--Fallengrademan (talk) 16:20, 29 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Gloria Estefan needs her claims supported by 46.1% certified sales as she's begun charting in 1984. Her available certified sales are 35.3 million units which doesn't include her certified sales from the Netherlands (625,000 units) or Argentina (380,000 units) as neither one of those can be verified at the moment. But her certified sales are enough to list her with 75 million claim. I'm not sure if such a claim is available online, she was once listed with 90 million.--Harout72 (talk) 16:41, 29 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Thanks so much! I'll try to find a source for her.--Fallengrademan (talk) 22:44, 3 November 2016 (UTC)

Platinum award for Get Back (ASAP)
Hello Harout! Altough there isn't a certification listed on the FIMI website for Get Back (ASAP), I am 100% sure that the single was certified platinum in Italy for domestical sales exceeding 60.000 shipments. There are also too much articles on the web, that are telling about this victory. See for example this |article

Thx a lot, °Cartoon network freak (talk)° 6:57, 14 April (UTC)

Rod Stewart
Hello Harout72, if it´s not a problem i would like to see Rod Stewarts certified sales. And this article say that he has sold 150 million records. How many certified untis would Rod need to be listed with a 150 million claim? Thank You in advance.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 12:46, 22. Nov. 2016 (CET)
 * Jlo Fan 1999, I'm not sure if you know this but we don't upgrade the sales figures unless the certified sales get significantly close to the currently listed claimed figures. If we were to upgrade Rod Stewart's certified sales, we'd have to find a sales figure between the current 100 million and 150 million. Anyways, here are his available certified sales.--Harout72 (talk) 14:15, 22 November 2016 (UTC)

Ohh i did not know that, Thank You.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 15:53, 22. Nov. 2016 (CET)

Madonna document
Hi Harout, can you please link to your Madonna document? Need to cross verify her certifications listed in some of the articles. — I B  [ Poke  ] 19:07, 25 November 2016 (UTC)
 * Here you are.--Harout72 (talk) 01:31, 26 November 2016 (UTC)

Beyoncé
Hello, could Beyoncé be listed with a higher claim, because her 76 million certified units are very close to her 85 million claim.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 21:30, 26. Nov. 2016 (CET)
 * She could be listed with 90 million claim, if there is such a claim. In the future, all your questions related to List of best-selling music artists should go on the list's talk page. Because if you and I agree to change something, others should be aware of the discussion.--Harout72 (talk) 21:49, 26 November 2016 (UTC)

R.E.M.
Hi Harout, could I please see the certifications document of R.E.M.? Thank You in advance.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 12:44, 17. Dec. 2016 (CET)
 * Sure, here you are.--Harout72 (talk) 16:52, 17 December 2016 (UTC)

Thank You :-)--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 19:09, 17. Dec. 2016 (CET)

Happy New Year
Hello Harout, i wish You a Happy New Year and I would like to thank you for all the certification files you gave me and you´ll hopefully give me in the future. ;-) --Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 19:14, 1. Jan. 2016 (CET)
 * You're welcome, wish you Happy New Year to you also.--Harout72 (talk) 18:51, 1 January 2017 (UTC)

Santana
Hello, could I please see Santana´s certifications file? Thank you in advance. --Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 16:25, 3. Jan. 2016 (CET)
 * Here it is.--Harout72 (talk) 03:19, 4 January 2017 (UTC)

Thank You--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 18:08, 4. Jan. 2016 (CET)

Question
Hi, Harout. Hope you had a nice New Year. A question: How is reliable to use in the articles, sources from the record companies regarding a certification status?. This is a example from Universal Music of Greece ( To MDNA, το νέο album της Madonna, που είναι ήδη διπλά πλατινένιο στην Ελλάδα | ...MDNA, Madonna's new album, which is already double platinum in Greece ). Chrishonduras ( Diskussion ) 06:36, 4 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Does Greece have a certification database? Can you verify that certification through their cert database? Normally, the record companies should not be used for much of the things we write on wikipedia as they tend to exaggerate sales figures and sometimes they claim a record is certified but you can't find it in the cert database of that country they claim for. I personally, would not use it, although it could be true that it's certified. But in any case, Greece has an small music market, smaller than Finalnd's, so I wouldn't go the extra mile for that.--Harout72 (talk) 14:09, 4 January 2017 (UTC)

the best-selling artist from Idol franchise?
Hello Harout70, do you have certification details for Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood. Who has the most certified units? Underwood's page claim that she had sold over 65 million records, which I think too much inflated considering the fact that she is a country music artist whose career bases mostly in the U.S. and Canada. Thank you in advance :) Bluesatellite (talk) 23:40, 4 January 2017 (UTC)
 * I have Kelly Clarkson's certified sales only, it stands at 29.5 million units.--Harout72 (talk) 02:38, 5 January 2017 (UTC)

Elton John
Hello Harout72, sorry to bother you again, but could I please see Elton John´s certifications document? Thank you so much in advance.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 20:50, 14. Jan. 2017 (CET)
 * Here you are.--Harout72 (talk) 20:22, 14 January 2017 (UTC)

Thank You--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 22:16, 14. Jan. 2017 (CET)

Aaliyah discography
Can you help on Aaliyah discography with this user reverting my editions? I only add the sales from BMG club, with a reliable source.

--PassenzaT (talk) 09:43, 16 January 2017 (UTC)
 * You should open up a discussion thread at Talk:Aaliyah discography and provide a source such as this which clearly states that Nielsen Soundscan doesn't count BMG Club Sales. Also, you should remind the other editor that Wikipedia allows adding numbers. If your edits are still reverted, you should consider notifying administrators at Administrators' noticeboard/Edit warring.--Harout72 (talk) 14:17, 16 January 2017 (UTC)

Alanis Morissette
Hi, Harout72 do you have Alanis Morissette´s certifed sales? --Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 14:44, 4. Feb. 2017 (CET)
 * Here you are.--Harout72 (talk) 16:57, 4 February 2017 (UTC)

Thank You --Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 16:18, 5. Feb. 2017 (CET)

How to submit Out of Print Aritcles as a Souce on an Wiki Ariticle
HI i have some old out of print magazine articles that i want to use as sources on an wiki article. i notice that for example on the article about Mariah Carrery

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariah_Carey#Sources

how do a cite a source that is not a website source? like this. is there a form where i submit an isbn number? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Maxxmusicfan (talk • contribs) 17:19, 4 February 2017 (UTC)
 * You can use Book sources to find the ISBN number if you don't have it and then use the appropriate citation templates that you've seen at Carey's page.--Harout72 (talk) 17:28, 4 February 2017 (UTC)

Dalida
Hello. I'm sorry for interrupting, but if I could I'd like to ask do you maybe know how many certified sales Dalida has? In the article it is written she's sold more than 170 million records. I suppose it's an inflated figure, but I can be wrong. Thank you in advance for help. Best wishes. Jojnee (talk) 17:11, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
 * Yes, you're right, that figure is completely inflated for an artists who has only 125,000 units of certified singles, and 3,250,000 certified units of albums.--Harout72 (talk) 03:30, 16 February 2017 (UTC)

Billy Joel
Hi, could i please see Billy Joel´s certified sales? Thank you very much in advance. --Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 18:12, 22. Feb. 2017 (CET)
 * Here you are.--Harout72 (talk) 02:35, 23 February 2017 (UTC)

Thank You. --Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 17:58, 23. Feb. 2017 (CET)

Gaga Norway
Harout can you take a look at the Nordic certifications for Gaga and let me know what is the 13× Platinum certification for The Fame Monster? Its listed under singles. — I B  [ Poke  ] 06:02, 26 February 2017 (UTC)
 * It's confusing because it's listed as a single. It might be for the download format of the entire album for which they used the singles certification levels. If that's the case, then that would translate to 130,000 units based on their certification levels for a single released in 2009. I wouldn't assume that The Fame Monster has gone 13x Platinum there for 390,000 units based on their album certification levels. This unclarity is another reason why I still don't use Norway's certified sales for any artists on List of best-selling music artists.--Harout72 (talk) 08:55, 26 February 2017 (UTC)
 * Thanks its really really weird. Also note they still haven't listed certifications for all the years. So much is missing simply. On another note, do you know if the Irish certifications are at all updated? — I B  [ Poke  ] 15:52, 26 February 2017 (UTC)
 * Norway's certs between 1993-2011 are here. No, actually neither Ireland nor Finland are currently posting any new certs. Some of them are pretty disorganized.--Harout72 (talk) 16:41, 26 February 2017 (UTC)

Eagles
Hello Harout, could i please see the Eagles certifications document? Thank You very much in advance --Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 18:26, 7. Mar. 2017 (CET)
 * Here you are.--Harout72 (talk) 02:05, 8 March 2017 (UTC)

Thank You--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 18:17, 8. Mar. 2017 (CET)

Laundry Service
Hi, Harout. I have opened in the talk page of List of best-selling albums a discussion about if we can or not add this album in the list. Since you are an expert in sales and certifications, can you give an opinion on this?. If not, don't worry. Thanks Chrishonduras  ( Diskussion ) 18:40, 25 March 2017 (UTC)

Tina Turner
Hello, could I please see Tina Turner´s certified sales?. And by the Way I would like to thank you for your amazing work with all the certification documents. --Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 18:53, 27. Mar. 2017 (CET)
 * Here you are.--Harout72 (talk) 01:25, 28 March 2017 (UTC)

Thank You very much. --Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 15:26, 28. Mar. 2017 (CET

April 2017
May I know why you replaced this source with this in this edit? The new source doesn't support the statement, while the previous one does. So what's the reason for the change? Bennv3771 (talk) 07:58, 2 April 2017 (UTC)

The Doors
Hello Harout72, do have The Doors music certitfications? --Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 16:33, 04. Apr. 2017 (CET)
 * Here you are.--Harout72 (talk) 00:35, 5 April 2017 (UTC)

Thank´s a lot. --Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 19:50, 05. Apr. 2017 (CET)

Question
Did you even read the source? I'm not trying to be rude but I'm just a number one Janet Jackson fan and when I see people discredit her for her contributions especially when the source says over 14 million copies each for Control, RN1814, and Janet. And I did try to talk with the editor but his reasoning didn't make sense especially to the source of information. And I think it's funny that I was so quickly hunt down and criticized for editing even when the editor his self gave out miss information to other people which you mentioned is very disruptive to readers. I was a reader who saw a misprint and had a right to fix it but instead I'm threatened for shut down when I'm just trying to fix this. Isn't that the point of Wikipedia to edit false or new information. And like I said even if that article did say that the limit of the sold album was 14 million, that article was done in 1998, by now don't you think as huge as the album Janet was that it would have reached higher, it stayed on the chart fro 1993 to the end of the 90s decade in the top 30s that seems more than just 14 million to me. Again not trying to be rude just passionate, and I kindly ask again for you to read the source and you'll understand my point of view. Dre7474 (talk) 03:16, 19 April 2017 (UTC)
 * Yes I read all of the sources that are supporting each sales figure for each album. The album Control has a source next to it, which states 10 million units in sales. The album Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 has a source next to it which clearly states 12 million units in sales. We are going with those sales figures that are closest to available certified sales. You changing the sales figures in this edit when sources do not support your changes, constitutes disruptive editing. Just because one source says all three albums have sold 14 million each, it does mean we should blindly go with it. The available certified sales do not support such figures.--Harout72 (talk) 03:42, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

Simon and Garfunkel
Hello, could I please see Simon and Garfunkel´s certifed sales? And do they not have enough certifed sales to be listed on the best selling artists list or can´t we find a reliable source? Thank You so much in advance.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 10:10, 23. Apr. 2017 (CET
 * I haven't gone over their certified sales yet. But I looked at their US certified sales which add up to 42.6 million certified units (Albums, singles and videos combined). So they could be listed if there a reliable source that claims some 75-100 million records in sales?--Harout72 (talk) 13:01, 23 April 2017 (UTC)
 * That´s good to know. Sadly I haven´t found a source yet.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 17:33, 23. Apr. 2017 (CET

Madonna
Hi Harout72, do yo have included Madonnas certifications in HongKong in her document? If not they are here. Platinum for Evita; Platinum for Like a Virgin, You Can Dance, Who´s That Girl, Like a Prayer, True Blue and Madonna; Platinum for Ray of Light; Gold for Music; Gold for Confessions and Gold for The Confessions Tour. Can those certifications be used in der document? --Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 14:33, 19. Nov. 2016 (CET)

Opinion
Hi, Harout. I'm here for one favor. Can you verify the talk page in David Bowie about his sales?. I know that you're neutral and you know very well the policies in Wikipedia. This is an article tied with the "List of best-selling music artists", so I think that is appropiate fix any figure relate with the list or be accurate with the sales figures with the Wikipedia's policies. If you're not available, don't worry. And one question, this reference and this other are reliable to use?. I'm not pretty sure with the first, but came from a secondary source and the second, I think that is not good, but is used in some feature articles (like Janet Jackson's albums). Regards, Chrishonduras  ( Diskussion ) 02:42, 26 April 2017 (UTC)
 * Based on Bowie's available certified sales which add up to 29.3 million, the 100 million claim itself seems like a huge stretch. I can't see anything written about Bowie in this source. The second one here isn't reliable. I'm afraid I can't get my self involved in correcting sales figures on artists' main pages as we have dozens of artists at the List of best-selling music artists. That would take to much time.--Harout72 (talk) 13:12, 26 April 2017 (UTC)
 * Thanks, but actually I opened the discussion to reach a consensus. However, if you cannot give your personal opinion in the article, is ok!. And the Madonna's reference is just to know if is reliable to use (is other topic), for example Philippines certification for the album True Blue. Chrishonduras  ( Diskussion ) 00:03, 27 April 2017 (UTC)
 * I personally would avoid using those certifications as they directly seem to be coming from Warner Music Group. I think we all have noticed how record companies inflate sales figures ans post certifications that sometimes are not yet issued by certifying bodies. If they were directly posted by Billboard, that would be more credible. By the Way, I see there is a Double Gold for Japan on there. Well, Japan didn't issue Gold awards until 1989.--Harout72 (talk) 02:38, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

ABBA
Hi Harout72, could I please see ABBA´s certifications document? Thank you very much in advance an have a great weekend.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 22:33, 05. May. 2017 (CET
 * Here you are.--Harout72 (talk) 07:28, 6 May 2017 (UTC)
 * Thank You.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 22:33, 05. May. 2017 (CET

Eric Clapton
Hello :). Could I please see Eric Clapton´s certified sales document? Thank you very much in advance.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 16:10, 20. May. 2017 (CET
 * Sure, here it is.--Harout72 (talk) 15:57, 20 May 2017 (UTC)
 * Thank You.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 10:24, 21. May. 2017 (CET

Clapton again
Hi, sorry to bother you again. But does Eric Clpaton really have no certifications in the Netherlands?--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 13:18, 23. May. 2017 (CET
 * I'm sure he does, but there is no way to retrieve the Dutch certifications at the moment as their database doesn't work?--Harout72 (talk) 12:58, 23 May 2017 (UTC)
 * Oh okay, do you think I could write an e-mail to the nvpi to ask for his certifications?--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 17:43, 23. May. 2017 (CET

Neil Diamond
Hello;)). Could I please see Neil Diamond´s certifications document? Thank You very much in advance.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 16:47, 14. Jun. 2017 (CET
 * Sure here you are.--Harout72 (talk) 00:15, 15 June 2017 (UTC)

Duran Duran
Just wondering why Duran Duran isn't on the best selling artist/album list as they've sold approximately 100 million albums. Endriksohn (talk) 22:30, 16 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Their available certified sales are inadequate to be listed with 100 million claim.--Harout72 (talk) 02:35, 17 June 2017 (UTC)

Aerosmith
Hello Harout72. Could I please see Aerosmith´s certifications document? Thank You very much.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 22:17, 28. Jun. 2017 (CET
 * Here you are.--Harout72 (talk) 01:40, 29 June 2017 (UTC)

I´ve found a Platinium certification for Janie's Got a Gun in Australia(http://www.ariacharts.com.au/annual-charts/1990/singles-chart). Can that be used in the document? --Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 19:01, 20. Jun. 2017 (CET)
 * I'll add that, thanks.--Harout72 (talk) 17:21, 30 June 2017 (UTC)

Janet Jackson discography
Please actually listen to me, before we have been in this issue and you didn't even listen. Please on her official website it says what if been saying all along, under her number ones page it say that Control sold 1 mil ww, that rn1814 sold 14 mil ww, and that Janet. sold 20 mil ww, and I think that the official website of the artist is more accurate than a random article online. And even on one of the links for the album Janet. the add says, her last three albums sold over 14 million copies ww, and that's each, please go to check the link and her website. Dre7474 (talk) 06:12, 2 July 2017 (UTC)
 * Official websites of artists are not considered reliable as they are not third party sources. We need third party sources. The sales figures for each album should actually be close to available Gold/Platinum certified sales. The sales figures listed currently are the closest ones to Janet Jackson's available certified sales for each album. Also, making the same edits repeatedly as you normally do without discussing the matter on the talk page of the article, especially when other editors disagree and revert your edits, is disruptive.--Harout72 (talk) 13:10, 2 July 2017 (UTC)

List of best-selling music artists and non-free content
Greetings! In this edit you introduced the image File:Tupac Amaru Shakur2.jpg into the article. Per terms of WP:NFCC #10c, there is no rationale for the use of this image on the article. Further, per WP:NFLISTS the image shouldn't be used on the article at all. Would you please remove it? Thanks, --Hammersoft (talk) 13:10, 11 July 2017 (UTC)
 * It should similarly be removed from the artist's main article in that case.--Harout72 (talk) 13:15, 11 July 2017 (UTC)
 * No, it belongs there as he is dead and there is no free license images available of him. --Hammersoft (talk) 13:22, 11 July 2017 (UTC)
 * What's the difference where on wikipedia it's used if the artist's dead. If it can be used on his main article, then it could also be used elsewhere. Unless there is such a policy that says non-free images of dead persons can only be used on main articles of the said persons.--Harout72 (talk) 13:26, 11 July 2017 (UTC)
 * I pointed you to WP:NFLISTS above. We do not use non-free content in this way on list type articles, such as List of best-selling music artists. WP:NFGALLERY from the same guideline applies as well. Please remove it. --Hammersoft (talk) 13:57, 11 July 2017 (UTC)

Sting
Hello. Do you have Sting´s certified sales? How many would he need to be listed on the best selling artists list and do we have a source which claimes 75 million records or something like that? Thank You in advance.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 22:56, 16. Jul. 2017 (CET)
 * No, I haven't gone over his certified sales. His claimed figures need to be supported by 49% certified sales, which would be 36.7 million certified units for a claim as high as 75 million. His US certified sales are 18.6 million units, I doubt he could have another 18 million from the rest of the world. But if there is a claim figure out there available for him that states 75 million, let me know, I'll go over his certified sales.--Harout72 (talk) 23:33, 16 July 2017 (UTC)

Cher, J.Lo
Hello Harout. Could I please see Cher´s certification document?

and

How do J.Los certifications look like? How close is she to the certified sales she would need to be on the best sellig artists list. Thank you so much in advance.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 11:29, 23. Jul. 2017 (CET)
 * Here is Cher's file. As for Jennifer Lopez, her certified sales stand currently at 34.3 million. Since she's begun charting in 1999, her sales figures need to be supported by 69.4% certified sales. So it will be 52 million certified units needed for 75 million claim. Honestly, I'm not seeing her being listed on the list anytime in the next few years.--Harout72 (talk) 13:15, 23 July 2017 (UTC)
 * Thank You. For J.Lo: On the Floor and Dance Again were certified Platinum and Gold in Finland. []. Although those two have only minimal sales.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 16:25, 23. Jul. 2017 (CET)

NZ certifications and other issues
Hello Harout, hope you are well. You may remember a lengthy discussion we had last year at Template talk:Certification Table Entry, regarding the fact that I said that NZ certifications were halved in 1992 but we had no proof. You suggested that you were going to ask your friend to scan the missing pages from the introduction of Dean Scapolo's New Zealand Charts 1966–2006 book to see if it stated the levels or not – did you get anywhere with this? I found a piece in Billboard magazine which proves that gold/platinum for NZ albums were still 10,000/20,000 in mid-1992, shortly before they were halved (the certifications for singles had already been halved in 1989).

Two other quick questions: (1) what do you think we should do about Dutch and Irish certifications, seeing as the certifications template for these countries routes to what are currently dead links? (2) I know you're actively involved in policing "List of best-selling..." articles, and there are similar issues on the List of best-selling girl groups article, in particular the claimed worldwide sales for girl groups in the first section (I think these should be sourced from a single source, not from all over the place like they currently are), and the best-selling singles by girl groups in the US – the top ten currently listed is WP:OR/WP:SYNTH in my view because it's only the ten singles with known sales figures, not necessarily the ten biggest sellers as pre-1990s there are almost no sales figures, just the RIAA certification for a million-seller (but it could be two million, or three, or four million, nobody knows). So I wondered if you had any views on the topic. Richard3120 (talk) 00:03, 25 July 2017 (UTC)
 * Hi Richard, no unfortunately I wasn't able to get the scans. I would've let you know in that discussion thread. But thanks for that information coming from Billboard. It also clearly shows that the album levels were Gold=10,000, Platinum=20,000. I need to find out whether these were the levels for albums since the beginning, and when they were lowered to 7,500/15,000.


 * The Irish certifications are still active, it's just IRMA hasn't been posting certifications since 2013. But the Dutch certifications are not verifiable, at least not through NVPI. Richard, I'm afraid my only opinion about the List of best-selling girl groups is it seems a bit disorganized, maybe more work could be put into it. But at a quick glance, I see that in the first section, Destiny's Child has two sources. The 60 million in sales could be found in both sources.


 * As for the RIAA's earlier certification system, normally, when older singles reached platinum certifications levels during 1958-1976 when platinum certifications didn't exist, they were often re-certified as platinum and multi-platinum in later years, like for example "Let It Be", "Get Back", "Hey Jude" by The Beatles. RIAA's certifications can often help to determine as to how many million units the earlier singles or albums have sold, even without the multi-platinum system having existed. Also, the Gold requirement for singles having been 1 million units back then, helped million units sellers to be recorded by that system.--Harout72 (talk) 03:08, 25 July 2017 (UTC)
 * Sorry, I should have been a little clearer - the problem I find with Irish certifications is that although the Irishcharts.ie website only has them from 2005 to 2013, many enthusiastic young editors still add the template for 2014 onwards, based on what IRMA or the record labels post on social media, resulting in a lot of reverting as they're not RS, and it just ends up leading to a dead link. I was just wondering if it was worth trying to code the template so it only works up until 2013, and trying to put "certyear" parameters from 2014 onwards results in no output. I'd suggest disabling the Dutch certifications entirely, only it might result in a lot of error messages in many articles that already include it from the time when the NVPI site was working.


 * Here's the problem with the girl groups - at present there is an argument going on because we apparently have two RS for the Supremes' sales, one showing 20 million and the other 100 million... that's a heck of a difference. Likewise, for the Spice Girls I've seen different figures ranging from 75 million to over 100 million. I think the table ought to be changed to "claimed sales" from different sources, and the various figures all quoted, as you do at List of best-selling musical artists.


 * As for the US singles, I had a list of all the girl group singles that have been verified as selling over one million. The trouble is, in most cases we don't know how many over one million, so I thought the only sensible option was to list all of them... but there are 67 of them in the pre-streaming era, and some editors felt the list was too long. But I don't see how you can possibly cut them down and say "this is the top ten". Additionally, there are two further complications: I found a lot of the million-sellers from the 1950s and 1960s still haven't been retroactively certified, particularly those by the Supremes... Motown was notorious for not bothering to get their records certified, and as the Supremes had 14 million-selling singles, that makes the use of the RIAA database useless (very few of their records appear on there). And of course, there's the small matter of RIAA not correcting their database to take account of the fact certification levels were halved in 1989... the certification is correct, but the sales figures that go with them in the database are half what they should be for records before this era. This has resulted in me being accused of quoting "false" sales figures and the removal of all gold-certificated records before 1989, by editors who wrongly but understandably believe that they only sold 500,000. Richard3120 (talk) 03:49, 25 July 2017 (UTC)


 * I think we'd be better off with simply reverting the edits for Irish certs that are unverifiable through IRMA. As for the NVPI certs, it's been quite a few years since their database stopped working, I'm not sure if they will re-launch it anytime soon. But if disabling the template might make a mess all across wikipedia, perhaps just removing each Dutch cert manually will be a better option. This should probably be discussed at the talk of the template.


 * As for the List of best-selling girl groups, why list only top 10? After all the title of the list doesn't mention anything about Top-10 only, I think it should list at least up to 25-30. I know, the RIAA should adjust their database in a way that it reads the earlier singles certification levels correctly including all these. You can provide sources such as this for those editors who remove your edits.--Harout72 (talk) 05:32, 25 July 2017 (UTC)
 * Thanks for taking the time to provide your opinions, I appreciate it. I agree that there is no reason for only providing a top ten, it was just some editors who preferred it that way. But equally, I don't see how it can be any fewer than all 67 singles if we have no way of telling which 25 or 30 sold more than the others. I did have every one of the 67 singles sourced from at least two different places AND an explanation of why the RIAA database wasn't infallible, but it still got reverted anyway... sigh. I wish there was some way of contacting RIAA to point out their error, but in any case they'll probably ignore it. Anyway, I won't take up any more of your talk page – I will raise the various issues on the relevant talk pages and hope editors discuss them there. Thank you. Richard3120 (talk) 14:16, 25 July 2017 (UTC)

Documents
Hello Harout. I´m sorry to bother you again, but I need your help again. Could you please let me see the certification documents from Justin Bieber, Genesis, Elvis, Julio Iglesias and The Beatles and do you have André Rieu´s certifications. A big thank You in advance.

I would also like to say that your work with all the certifications is simply amazing and impressive.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 13:23, 25. Jul. 2017 (CET)
 * Here you are:
 * Justin Bieber
 * Genesis
 * Presley
 * Iglesias
 * Beatles
 * I don't have André Rieu´s certs, I'm afraid.--Harout72 (talk) 13:09, 25 July 2017 (UTC)
 * I usually work in the german wikipedia. We have articles about the music certifications from several music artists. Because some old databases are not working anymore or are very hard to find. You´re documents are always a big help. So thank You again.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 15:40, 25. Jul. 2017 (CET)
 * No problem, glad to be of help.--Harout72 (talk) 02:16, 26 July 2017 (UTC)

Linkin Park, Prince
Hi Harout. I hope you´re doing well. First,can I see the certification document of Prince? Then I would like to ask if Linkin Park has any chances to get on the best selling arists list. They must have around 50 million certified sales if I´m not wrong, isn´t that enough to have them on the list with am 75 million claim? Thank you in advance and have a nice weekend.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 21:23, 4. Aug. 2017 (CET)
 * Here you are with the file for Prince. As for Linkin Park, here is their file with the recently updated certs coming from the UK. Also,there is a discussion at Talk:List of best-selling music artists. I'm not sure if there is reliable source at the moment claiming 75 million for LP.--Harout72 (talk) 22:27, 4 August 2017 (UTC)
 * Thank You for the file. I´ll try to keep my eyes open on a good source for LP.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 10:34, 5. Aug. 2017 (CET)

Queen
Hello Harout72. I'm from the German Wikipedia and I need your help. Could you please let me see the certification documents from Queen? A big thank you in advance. --Dentalum (talk) 08:43, 8 August 2017 (UTC)
 * Here you are.--Harout72 (talk) 12:33, 8 August 2017 (UTC)
 * Thanks a lot. --Dentalum (talk) 21:46, 8 August 2017 (UTC)

Metallica
Hello Harout. I need your help again. Could I please see Metallica´s certitifactions document? Thank´s a lot in advance.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 10:13, 10. Aug. 2017 (CET)
 * Here you go.--Harout72 (talk) 13:26, 10 August 2017 (UTC)
 * Thank You--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 09:01, 11. Aug. 2017 (CET)

Celine Dion
Hello Harout72. I´m sorry to bother you, but could I please see Celine Dion´s current certifications document? Thank You in advance.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 9:27, 19. Aug. 2017 (CET)
 * No problem, here you are.--Harout72 (talk) 13:05, 19 August 2017 (UTC)
 * Thank You a lot--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 15:57, 19. Aug. 2017 (CET)

Madonna DK
Harout, I do not understand this edit. If Madonna's COADF was certified 2x plat in 2005, then that was for 200K units. Now if its certified 5x plat in 2017 with recent levels applied, then that comes out at 100K units. How can they give out a certification for a lower unit? Plus your updating of the total by 20,000 also does not tally up. — I B  [ Poke  ] 16:34, 20 August 2017 (UTC)
 * CODF was released in 2005, and was certified 2x Platinum for 80,000 units as the Platinum for IFPI Denmark between April 2003 and February 2007 was 40,000 units. So now it is certified 5x Platinum for 100,000 units. IFPI Denmark applies their recent levels to all released titles regardless when they were released. BTW, their Platinum certification levels has never been 100,000 units. Before 1994, it was 80,000 units.--Harout72 (talk) 16:44, 20 August 2017 (UTC)
 * Ugh, sorry brain-fart. — I B  [ Poke  ] 16:52, 20 August 2017 (UTC)

Since you're experienced on charts/certifications,
maybe you could give some comments about this. Thanks Bluesatellite (talk) 10:09, 23 August 2017 (UTC)

Bruce Springsteen
Hello Harout72. Could I please see Bruce Springsteen´s certifications? Thank You so much in advance.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 10:17, 27. Aug. 2017 (CET)
 * Here you are.--Harout72 (talk) 13:34, 30 August 2017 (UTC)
 * Thank You, hope I´m not to annoying.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 16:02, 30. Aug. 2017 (CET)
 * No worries, it's not an annoyance at all.--Harout72 (talk) 02:22, 31 August 2017 (UTC)

AC/DC ; Fleetwood Mac
Hi Harout72. I´m sorry to bother you, but I need your help again. Could you please let me see AC/DCs and Fleetwood Mac´s certifications document? Thank You so much in advance.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 15:20, 9. Sep. 2017 (CET)
 * Sure, here you are:
 * AC/DC
 * Fleetwood Mac.--Harout72 (talk) 16:12, 9 September 2017 (UTC)
 * Thank You a lot.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 18:20, 9. Sep. 2017 (CET)

BIGBANG 빅뱅
Hi Dear Harout, Can you please add BIGBANG 빅뱅 they sold up to 140m, here is some realible sources : SRC1      

+ i Have a Sources of 120,976,099 million certified units Exactly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bang_discography#Albums Please review those numbers i believe they are 100% accurate.

| MRAU-vip — Preceding Hamza.A comment added by MRAU-vip (talk • contribs) 19:11, 20 September 2017 (UTC)
 * Can you please read the definitions at the List of best-selling music artists please. That said, all artists need to have certain amount of certified sales.--Harout72 (talk) 21:51, 20 September 2017 (UTC)

Question about your certification docs
Good evening. I was told that you have assembled certification information in some word documents and provided them to some German WP users. I'm not sure if that was intended, but now they are quite often used as references in the German-language wikipedia for record certifications in Argentina and the Netherlands.

Argentina is replaceable with archive links, but I don't know any archive for NL, as the ceritification database of the NVPI has never worked for as long as I know (I don't know what was before 2008, but these databases are not accessible anymore).

Inside the documents, there is no direct source for the Netherlands given, just "source: NPVI". First I don't like that these documents are used as sources in general, but it's even worse that there is no source for NVPi given. Therefore I'd like to know where you have your certification info of the Netherlands from. If there are no sources for NL certifications, we should maybe remove all NL certification data which is not referenced by news articles e.g.? --Ali1610 (talk) 14:47, 24 September 2017 (UTC)
 * Hi, those documents are not supposed to be used as sources on main pages of any articles, whether German or English or others. The main reason why I have compiled those certifications is because I take care of the List of best-selling music artists. I frequently, almost on daily bases, update the certifications on that list, my files are updated also. I also use those files on the talk page of that list, but never on the main page of the list. As for NVPI, the certification database currently doesn't exist, and hasn't for some years now. However, all NVPI's certification up to 2006 were available when their database was still active. We currently don't use NVPI's certifications that were once verifiable at the List of best-selling music artists, they also should not be used on other wikipedias, including the German one as Dutch certification aren't verifiable. As for Argentina, this old source could and should only be used for whatever certifications are showing on there.--Harout72 (talk) 16:10, 24 September 2017 (UTC)
 * Thanks for making this clear, I hope the other will think the same way. Concerning Argentina (and all the other certifications): see de:Benutzer:Ali1610/Musikverkäufe for some links, I compiled a nice overview for all certification sources ;) The first link for Argentina written there contains some different album certifications though it should only have additional DVDs. Better check both of them! --Ali1610 (talk) 18:08, 24 September 2017 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the source for Argentina that also includes DVDs. I'm gonna need to update my files using that.--Harout72 (talk) 19:22, 24 September 2017 (UTC)

Italian certification for "Bohemian Rhapsody"
Hi Harout, quick question... on the FIMI website "Bohemian Rhapsody" has been certified as double platinum. Its release year is given as 2006, so using the certification levels from that year, that would be 40,000 sales. However, another editor has included the sales amount as 100,000, because the song was certified this year, and claiming the release date doesn't matter. Are we absolutely certain that Italian certification levels are based on release date, and not certification date? Richard3120 (talk) 14:36, 26 September 2017 (UTC)
 * Most certifying bodies certify records based on release dates. However, if that editor claims that FIMI certifies their singles based on certification dates, then he/she needs to provide some sort of proof that "Bohemian Rhapsody" has been certified there 2x Plat. for 100,000 units. I'm personally suspecting that FIMI could be certifying only their digital singles using their most recent certification levels, but since I haven't come across a source that says so, I'm applying the levels based on release dates.--Harout72 (talk) 14:49, 26 September 2017 (UTC)

List of best-selling music artists
Regarding your edit of List of best-selling music artists reverting my three edits, please see Special:LintErrors/misnested-tag, then in Namespace, choose (Article) and click "Submit", then click on "Last page". You should see the article in question listed 21 times with "Misnested tag which should be properly nested" identified as "small". The article won't appear at all if your edit is reverted back to mine, and the article also will move to prior pages as time goes by, so click "Previous page" if necessary to see what I'm talking about. My 3 edits solved these 21 lint errors, and therefore I believe they are correct. If you disagree, please explain. —Anomalocaris (talk) 23:25, 27 September 2017 (UTC)
 * Your edits made the fonts abnormally large, which, as I explained in the edit summary, do not match with the rest of the font sizes in the table(s). See the difference here: your edit, original appearance.--Harout72 (talk) 23:33, 27 September 2017 (UTC)
 * Thank you. I re-did my fix in a way that both removes the lint errors and doesn't mess up the font sizes in the tables.—Anomalocaris (talk) 19:52, 28 September 2017 (UTC)
 * Ok that works, thanks.--Harout72 (talk) 20:43, 28 September 2017 (UTC)

Taylor Swift
Hi Harout72. Sorry to bother you, but could I please see Taylor Swift´s certifications. Thank You very much.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 10:17, 2. Oct. 2017 (CET)
 * Here you are. Also, a user from the German wikipedia contacted me claiming that someone was using these files as sources on the main pages there. Just want to let you know that these files are not to be used as sources. They could be used on talk pages, but never on main pages.--Harout72 (talk) 13:15, 2 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Okay. Thank You for the source and also for letting me know about that.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 15:36, 2. Oct. 2017 (CET)

List of best-selling music artists (Rihanna)
Dear Harout72,

I noticed that you contribute to the List of best-selling music artists article and was wondering if you could help. I noticed that Rihanna's album sales of 230 million seem to be grossly inflated. The concept of "certified units" seems to be implemented arbitrarily here. Even the Rihanna Wikipedia article does not reflect worldwide album sales anywhere close to this amount. In addition, many of the citations under the "Rihanna" section are not reputable or have nothing to do with the material being referenced. One reference, for instance, links to a celebrity news article that links to a Forbes article discussing Rihanna's net worth. Ultimately, there seems to be nothing on the internet to corroborate the alleged in this article sales of 230 million. The following information is from reputable sources in the music industry none of which reflect album sales of 230 Million.

The Recording Industry Association of America's database reflects song sales around 200 million singles. Not equivalent albums sales of those singles.

In 2015 the Recording Industry Association of America awarded Rihanna for becoming the first artist to cross 100 million song certifications.

Album sales from 2010 according to Nielsen SoundScan: 5,482,000 | Digital track sales according to Nielsen SoundScan: 28 million.

ChartMasters includes a chart from 2016 and shows 34 million pure albums and 65.7 million equivalent albums. This is more in line with album sales for Rihanna of around 120 million, a number that was previously reflected in the List of best-selling music artists article before it was changed to 230 million.

Please correct me if I'm mistaken. Thanks for your help. Aenigmaldr (talk) 00:14, 14 September 2017 (UTC)


 * The claim figures on the List of best-selling music artists for each artist/band are for the entire records sales (albums, singles, videos combined), not just for albums. That goes for Rihanna's also. Her certified albums sales are only 26 million from all markets, the rest of the remaining certified figures are for digital downloads, and some videos. See this file for her detailed certified sales. Also, this article from RIAA is two years old. Rihanna has collected huge number of Gold/Platinum awards from the RIAA after that.--Harout72 (talk) 02:54, 14 September 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for responding.

Unfortunately, the page is misleading; it is comparing the sale of a $15 album to the sale of a $1.29 single and putting them 1 to 1. Clearly, this is giving a huge advantage to more recent artists and demeaning both the notion of "highest selling" and the reliability of Wikipedia.

This page should be revised to reflect highest selling artists based on actual and equivalent album sales. Otherwise what point is the concept of TEA (Track Equivalent Album) and SEA (Streaming Equivalent Album). At the very least, it should reflect the breakdown of Albums vs Singles of the total number of records for each artist.

Celine Dion selling 20 million copies of an album in the 1990s should not be equivalent to Rihanna selling 20 million downloads of a song in 2015. Rather than those 20 million factoring into that full number (230 million) individually, those 20 Million downloads should count as 2 Million (TEA).Aenigmaldr (talk) 08:49, 17 September 2017 (UTC)
 * This is a digital era, therefore, we should not be surprised that newer artists' certifications are based mainly on digital downloads. While most of the certifications these days digital download generated, it doesn't mean most newer artists are able to sell their songs via downloads with a greatest of ease. It's true that the streaming helps the Gold/Platinum certifications reach their required levels faster, therefore, we do not upgrade newer artists sales figures quickly. This could be seen by simply glancing at the space between Rihanna's claimed figure and her certified sales. While the gap for Rihanna is less than 5 million units, it is 50 million units for Celine Dion. Digital downloads are not less significant than physical singles that were selling in the past. A digital download for a single track costs $1.29 in the US, whereas we were able to get a physical single for $3, which would include three and even more tracks. Therefore, there is no need to discount digital downloads and/or create separate lists.


 * By the way, Celine Dion hasn't received a single certification for seven years in the US. It is pretty much the same for her in other markets. In other words, artists come and go, nobody stays at the top. Albums in US never cost $15 in the past, the price for albums would range from $7.99 to maximum $11.99. It's the double CDs that would cost between $15 - $17. Cassette albums were much cheaper. Records sales of all earlier artists are based on all formats, not just CDs. --Harout72 (talk) 17:51, 17 September 2017 (UTC)

Okay ..that is quit reasonable but still if u guys count everything I dot know why shouldnt be able to accept this billboard report ...coz the links that u used on Rihanna claimed sales are not as big and heavy as the billboard receipt which says otherwise ...claiming Rihanna to have sold 275M digital records worldwide.... ...👉👉👉👉 https://www.billboardmusicawards.com/2016/05/rihanna-perform-2016-bbmas/amp/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by CoColyn96 (talk • contribs) 14:02, 6 October 2017 (UTC)

Gloria Estefan
Hi Harout72. Sorry to bother you, but I have a question about Gloria Estefan. I read an article about her, where they said she received a lot certifications in Chile, Peru and other Southamerican countries, but they didn´t say which albums were certified and when they were certified. Do you know anything about her certifications in Southameria, where the only certifications i´ve found where her certs in Argentinia. Thank You in advance.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 14:32, 7. Oct. 2017 (CET)
 * I don't have any info on that but I wouldn't worry about those tiny music markets as those aforementioned markets do not generate enough sales in the world. Peru and Chile don't even enter the top-40 on the IFPI annual ranking.--Harout72 (talk) 12:46, 7 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Okay, Thank you for your time--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 14:57, 7. Oct. 2017 (CET)

Bruno Mars
"When I was your Man" was certified two times platinum in Italy by FIMI. If you could add that to the certifications.

Thank You. MarioSoulTruthFan (talk) 11:11, 23 October 2017 (UTC)

Eminem
Hello Harout72, there is an update on Eminem's total sales by Billboard (172 million) : http://www.billboard.com/articles/business/7973935/fans-invest-royalties-eminem-catalog-royalty-exchange Since you are the godfather here, I write this to you. Thank you. Rakim69 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 22:43, 23 October 2017 (UTC)

Lionel Richie, Sade Adu
Hi Harout72. Sorry to bother you, but I have two guestions. First: Could I please see Lionel Richie´s certifications? Second: Do you know anything about Sade´s certifications. I´ve heard that they sold over 75 million records.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 16:35, 29. Oct. 2017 (CET)
 * Here is the file for Lionel Richie.
 * Here is the file for Sade. Her certified sales are a little over 35 million, which suggests that her actual sales can't be more than 50 million.--Harout72 (talk) 16:28, 29 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Ok, thank you for your time.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 18:16, 29. Oct. 2017 (CET)

Olivia Newton-John
Hi Harout72. Sorry to bother you, but could I please see Olivia Newton-John´s certifications? Thank You in advance.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 20:44, 4. Nov. 2017 (CET)
 * Here you are.--Harout72 (talk) 01:26, 5 November 2017 (UTC)
 * Thank you a lot.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 09:49, 5. Nov. 2017 (CET)

Argentinia
Hello Harout72. Sorry to bother you. Do you have more sources for certifications in Argentinia. In the german wiki we have only 3 archives, but I can´t find some certs there, which are included in your files. I would love to see or know if there are any more sources. Thank You--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 12:02, 8. Nov. 2017 (CET)
 * Some of the certifications for Argentina which I retrieved years ago from their original cert database can no longer be found. But you may have noticed that I have red asterisks posted next to the certs. Those are meant to indicate that they can be found in these following sources (1), (2).--Harout72 (talk) 14:01, 8 November 2017 (UTC)

The Police/The Carpenters
Hi Harout72. Sorry to bother you, but could I please see The Police´s and the Carpenters certifications? Thank You very much in advance.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 15:24, 21. Nov. 2017 (CET)
 * Sure, here you are with the files for The Police and The Carpenters.--Harout72 (talk) 18:40, 21 November 2017 (UTC)
 * Thank you a lot.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 11:00, 22. Nov. 2017 (CET)

They Call the Wind Mariah
Lol Hey Matey how are you? If you look here it appears that "AIWFCIY" was just certified Platinum in Germany, not sure if since the song came out in '94 if it denoted 500K shipped or what have you. Thanks! :)-- Peter Griffin  &bull;  Talk2Me   17:16, 14 December 2017 (UTC)
 * Yeap, just added it for 500,000 units. It's one of the BVMI's recently certified records there. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.--Harout72 (talk) 19:24, 14 December 2017 (UTC)

Van Halen
Hi Harout72. Sorry to bother you, but could I please see Van Halen´s certifications? Thank You very much in advance.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 15:00, 15. December 2017 (CET)
 * Sure, here you are.--Harout72 (talk) 15:35, 15 December 2017 (UTC)
 * Thank You a lot.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 16:53, 15. December 2017 (CET)

Def Leppard, Kenny Rogers
Hi Harout72. Sorry to bother you again, but could I please see Def Leppard´s and Kenny Roger´s certifications? And do you know something about Creedence Clearwater Revival´s sales? Lastly, I want to wish you happy holidays. Thank You very much in advance.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 09:16, 21. December 2017 (CET)
 * Sure, here is the file for Def Leppard, and here is the one for Kenny Rogers.--Harout72 (talk) 14:35, 21 December 2017 (UTC)
 * Thank You.--Jlo Fan 1999 (Talk) 15:40, 21. December 2017 (CET)

Baltimora
Hello there! I have several things I'd like to bring up about the Wikia page on Baltimora. I came across the act via the discography database Discogs; where there seems to be census it was an alias. It seems another Wikipedia editor pointed it out (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Baltimora#Yet_Another_Italian_Phony); as did Baltimora's personal acquaintance Tom Hooker in an interview: https://web.archive.org/web/20131109143139/http://www.euro-flash.net/deejays.php?djID=2

Also; I viewed the prior versions of the page; and New Wave doesn't seem like a major style of Baltimora's, but I think its okay to keep. Also; the information on the album's various musicians was removed, for reasons I am not sure of. Finally; the Billboard magazine article articulated that just over a million sales in the western Occident (the US) constituted half of the overall purchased in total:

https://books.google.com/books?id=2SQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA38-IA6&dq=%22act+Baltimora%22#v=onepage&q=%22act%20Baltimora%22&f=false

-"The group sold nearly half its singles, totaling [sic] more than a million units, in the U.S. alone".

An Irish blogger & writer also stated that the voice was "hardly a Derry accent": http://josefoshea.blogspot.com/2014/03/tarzan-boy-how-emergency-paramedic-from.html

Thank you Simon Levchenko (talk) 20:36, 28 December 2017 (UTC)

Harout? Simon Levchenko (talk) 19:11, 31 December 2017 (UTC)
 * Simon, I'm not sure what you're asking me to do. If you want to include the info about the sales as stated here, I'm not objecting it. But as far as McShane having lip-synced Baltimora's songs, this info is included. As far as this source goes, it should not be used as a source as blogs are not permissible. --Harout72 (talk) 19:56, 31 December 2017 (UTC)

Tupac Shakur's picture
Sorry for bothering you. Previously I change Shakur's picture with another of his picture which is more clear and I took it from the front of Shakur's wikibio. It turns to be a problem since that picture is a non-free Item, therefore I receive notification to undo it. I'm apologize Harout... I make a mess in the list, I thought all the artists images in wikipedia is free. Politsi (talk) 17:20, 1 January 2018 (UTC) Politsi (talk) 17:20, 1 January 2018 (UTC)