Once upon a time big name rock artists were expected to have gold (500,000 copies sold in the U.S.) albums with just about every release.

The top line artists would sell Platinum (1,000,000 copies in the U.S.) or multi platinum albums several times in their career.

There were even a few who hit Diamond status by selling 10,000,000 copies or more of a single album, AC/DC’s Back in Black just hit the 22 Million mark last December, but times have changed since the glory days of the 80s.

Illegal downloads, video games, DVDs, and the gross over pricing of CDs have all driven down album sales. In today’s market you are truly moving mountains if you can sell a million or more CDs, so I hereby give props to the following bands for finding a way to sell to that magic number:

3 Days Grace – One X – 1 Million

Buckcherry – 15 – 1 Million

Flyleaf – Flyleaf – 1 Million

RHCP – By The Way – 2 Million

Linkin Park – 2 Million

Hinder – Extreme Behavior – 3 Million

These albums are gold and are on their way to Platinum:

3 Doors Down – 3 Doors Down

Seether – Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces

Finger 11 – Them vs. You vs. Me

Ozzy – Black Rain

Foo Fighters – Echoes Silence Patience & Grace

Kid Rock – Rock & Roll Jesus