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New to collecting record awards, popularly known as "gold" or "platinum" records? Or have some knowledge and just want to know more about these fascinating pieces of music history?  Learn about RIAA awards and what makes them great to add to your collection. Subscribe to our free bi-weekly newsletter and get our 55-page MusicGoldmine RIAA and Record Award Guide FREE plus a 15% off discount code here.

Love songs help tell a story – our stories. They help us remember that feeling of first love, first heartbreak, last love, and everything in between. Songs build associations between feelings and events. So, it is no wonder that love songs are often found at the top of the charts. So it’s no surprise that the first song to hit the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 when the chart debuted in 1958 was Ricky Nelson’s “Poor Little Fool”. It was written by Sharon Sheeley, who penned the song in response to her own disappointment over a short-lived relationship....

In honor of Eddie Van Halen's birthday today, January 26, here's a few tracks of his guitar work, isolated so you hear him alone. While many know him for his speedy fretwork, double picking and hammer-on/harmonic work, he is also a great riff master. Eddie's terrific songwriting chops shine through in his great rhythm guitar parts for Van Halen's tunes. Check out some samples below on "Runnin' With The Devil", "Little Guitars" and "Somebody Get Me A Doctor".  And don't forget to check out our Van Halen memorabila here. For more content like this, updates on our latest arrivals plus a...

Here's an interesting chart showing the biggest selling hard rock/metal albums of all time, as measured by RIAA certified U.S. sales figures. AC/DC continues to reign supreme in the genre with their brilliant 1980 release Back In Black. Already a double diamond RIAA award winner, can it go for the triple? You will find more infographics at Statista For more content like this, updates on our latest arrivals plus a discount code, subscribe to our MusicGoldmine bi-weekly newsletter here.

We love vinyl! Turns out other people do too. Check out this chart that shows the pretty significant resurgence of vinyl record sales in the U.S. In fact, vinyl sales grew a healthy 14.6% from 2017 to 2018. Further, this comes after years of steady increases that started around 2006 as well. While the biggest story of music consumption continues to be around the growth of streaming services like Spotify, it's nice to see that our turntables will still be useful for at least some years to come... You will find more infographics at Statista For more content like this, updates on our latest...