It's been a long time since any of Rush's studio albums have been certified Gold and/or Platinum by the RIAA. Although several Rush videos and compilations have been certified over the past several years, the last time a Rush studio album was certified was back in 2001 when Roll the Bones was given Platinum certification. Rush's last 3 studio albums have yet to receive even Gold certification (sales of 500,000 units) here in the US. However, with all the reissues in recent years including the Sector box sets, the recent Atlantic-era reissues (the digital version has already been released) and the deluxe editions of 2112 and Moving Pictures, it's likely that sales of Rush's back catalog have greatly increased in the past few years. Record companies need to explicitly request certification and it looks like this may have happened with Rush's record company(s) according to a Facebook post from Rush sound engineer Richard Chycki earlier today:

Just put in the request ... 26 gold and platinum album sales awards in North America, for all the Rush DVD's and albums over the past 9 years. Unbelievable! I am so blessed. Thanks, guys ... looking forward to many, many more!

Chycki explicitly says North America so several of these certifications may be in Canada where certification is handled by a different entity. It's also not clear whether pre-orders of Rush's upcoming reissue of Vapor Trails or pre-orders of the physical copies of the Atlantic-era box sets will be included (both will release on October 1st), or whether Snakes & Arrows and/or Clockwork Angels has any chance of getting Gold certification. But with sales of all the recent reissues, it's likely that several albums in Rush's back catalog may get Platinum or multi-Platinum certification. The RIAA's database of Gold and Platinum certifications is freely available online and you can check out all of Rush's certifications here (just do a search for "Rush"). More information as I learn it.

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