RIAA To Present Taylor Swift With Top Ranking Digital Sales Award

Washington, DC (Top40 Charts/ RIAA) - The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) tonight will award Taylor Swift a special Gold and Platinum plaque, recognizing her unparalleled status as the best-selling solo artist of digital singles in American history with 16.5 million downloads sold.

RIAA Chairman & CEO Mitch Bainwol will present Swift with the award at tonight's sold-out concert at the Verizon Center, featuring special guests Kellie Pickler and Gloriana.

'We are thrilled to present Taylor with this award celebrating her stunning success in the digital space,' said Bainwol. 'She is a great example of what it takes to make it in today's music business - talent, brains, persistence, personality - all coupled with her signature grace that wins her fans the world over. She continues to wow audiences with high-powered performances that showcase her award-winning musical skills. We congratulate her on this unprecedented career milestone.'

No stranger to Gold and Platinum recognition, the Big Machine Records' musical icon earned her inaugural Gold single award for 'Tim McGraw' in 2007 and her first Platinum nod for 'Teardrops on My Guitar' in 2008. In 2009 Swift earned her first two multi-Platinum single awards for 'Our Song' and 'Love Story,' the latter of which remains her best selling single ever - at 4x multi-Platinum - to commemorate more than four million paid downloads. More recently in January, Taylor's hit song 'Today Was a Fairytale' went Platinum, selling more than one million downloads.

Officially launched in 1958, the RIAA's Gold and Platinum program expanded in 2004 to include a Digital Sales award to recognize the significant sales of the digital music market.

All certifications are calculated by Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman. Complete lists of all album, single, mastertone and video awards can also be accessed at www.riaa.com.