Pink Floyd’s Blockbuster Earns Its First New Certification In A Quarter-Century

On Friday (December 12) Pink Floyd re-released the album Wish You Were Here, one of its most successful works and one of the most celebrated rock projects of all time. The group delivered a special deluxe edition of Wish You Were Here to honor the title’s fiftieth anniversary, repackaging the seminal collection with demos, new mixes, outtakes, and other goodies that are sure to turn it into a top seller and perhaps even a major commercial win around the world in the coming days.

At the same time that the half-century edition of Wish You Were Here becomes available to purchase, the album earns a new certification from the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), and the band collects its first honor from the organization in years.

Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here Goes Platinum – Again

According to the RIAA, Wish You Were Here is now a seven-times platinum-certified album. That means that between pure purchases and streaming activity – which is now included in how the organization tracks projects – the Pink Floyd classic has moved seven million units in the United States alone, and many millions more globally.

How Long Has It Been Since Wish You Were Here Earned a New Award?

Wish You Were Here adds its first new platinum award in well over a quarter-century. The album was certified six-times platinum in the spring of 1997, and it has been quietly adding to its total and working toward more honors ever since.

Wish You Were Here Was Certified Gold After Only Weeks

Wish You Were Here needed only a few months before it first became an RIAA-certified album. The full-length dropped in September 1975 and was honored with a gold plaque that same month. It would be more than a decade before Wish You Were Here went platinum, which occurred in 1986.

Pink Floyd Hasn’t Scored a New RIAA Certification in a Decade

While Wish You Were Here specifically has not snagged a new certification from the RIAA since 1997, Pink Floyd has not seen any EP or full-length increase its total – at least according to the organization – in more than a decade. In January 2015, The Endless River was awarded a gold record, and the band has been largely absent from certification updates in the years since.

Wish You Were Here Ranks Among Pink Floyd’s Biggest Albums

Before adding this new platinum certification, Wish You Were Here already ranked as Pink Floyd’s third-most-certified album, a position it maintains. The Dark Side of the Moon has more than doubled the total number of units Wish You Were Here has shifted, as one of the most successful releases ever went 15-times platinum in 1998.

Neither title compares to The Wall, which is not only Pink Floyd’s biggest release, but one of the highest-certified albums in American history. The Wall jumped to 23-times platinum, or 23 million copies sold (as the title has not been updated since the RIAA began including streams in its methodology), just before the turn of the millennium. It is likely that the set has moved at least another million copies since then, though the RIAA has not updated its total in more than a quarter-century.

Pink Floyd Hit No. 1 Globally with With You Were Here

When Pink Floyd released Wish You Were Here in the fall of 1975, the group was following up The Dark Side of the Moon, which was no easy task. Wish You Were Here earned the rockers their second No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and the group doubled its total number of chart-toppers in the U.K. as well.