A Gold Single is a single that has passed a milestone in official sales. In the United States the program is run by the RIAA, which introduced the first award system in 1958 with an award of a Gold single for 500,000 copies sold. In music, a single is a short (usually ten minutes or less) record, usually featuring one or two tracks as A-sides, often accompanied by several B-sides—usually remixes or other songs. ... The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a special interest group representing the U.S. recording industry, and the body responsible for certifying gold and platinum albums and singles in the USA. For more information about sales data see list of best selling albums and list of best selling...

Several countries outside the Unites States have awards administered by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) The music industries of other countries have their own internally run award system. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) is a trade organisation representing the recording industry. ...

See Gold album for details of these awards and the thresholds in different countries. See RIAA_certification for details of the US system. The description Gold Album is applied to recorded music albums that have sold a minimum number of copies (in the US, currently 500,000 sales). ... In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of sales albums and singles have made. ...