Music Canada’s Gold and Platinum Program Celebrates 50 Years

January 9, 2025, Toronto, Ontario: Music Canada’s Gold & Platinum certification program will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2025. For half a century, the program has marked a milestone sales and streaming achievement for Canadian artists – making unique gold and platinum plaques the symbol of the highest commercial success rate in the music industry.

Since 1975, the Gold and Platinum Program has recognized pop music in Canada, and over the past fifty years, Canadians have enjoyed music’s unique historical timeline.

“When we look back at the 50 years of the program’s history, you can see the influence and influence of the songs that define generations, hitting singles that capture the culture of the day, and all the ways in which different technologies influence us to consume music in life,” said Patrick Rogers, CEO of Music Canada Music. “There is no greater benchmark for success than gold and platinum certification because it reflects what Canadians hear and love.”

The program released 27 albums and 7 physical certifications in its first year. The first ever certification issued by the program on August 1, 1975 is:

The program has been reflecting how people listen to their favorite songs and albums, starting with vinyl albums and 45 rpm vinyl singles, followed by cassettes, CDs, digital downloads, ringtones, ringtones, audio streaming, and more recently video streaming. As the industry continues to grow, the Gold and Platinum program will grow along with it and continue to celebrate the music Canadians choose to listen to, no matter where they choose to listen to it.

Today, music genres and artists who have achieved commercial success are more extensive and diverse than ever before. In 2024, the program certified 1,025 singles and 211 albums, including:

Music Canada will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Gold and Platinum Program year-round, and will be available through special events, playlists and speeches. To formally mark the anniversary, each new Gold and Platinum Program plaque presented to the artists and their team in 2025 will include a 50th anniversary.

Focus on gold and platinum Instagram and x For weekly posts celebrating the program’s long history and contributed to conversations with #GoldPlat50.

About Canadian Music

Music Canada is a trade association representing major Canadian record labels: Sony Music Entertainment Canada, Universal Music Canada and Warner Music Canada. Like its members, Music Canada is a partner in the industry, working with artists, independent labels, publishers, platforms, associations and others to advance forward-looking policies to ensure a vibrant, successful Canadian music ecosystem that will enable music creators to return value.

For more information:

Regan Reid

rreid@musiccanada.com