The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has announced the integration of streams to its recognition of gold and platinum certifications. On-demand audio and/or video song streams will now be counted toward the 500,000 (gold), 1,000,000 (platinum) and 2,000,000 plus (multiplatinum) thresholds required for digital single award certification.

The RIAA created the formula of 100 streams being equivalent to one download. A press releases state the formula "is an approximate barometer of comparative consumer activity; the financial value of streams and downloads were not factored into the equation."

Specifically, the RIAA is awarding 11 gold, 18 platinum and 27 multiplatinum new "combined" digital single awards, counting both downloads and streams. This includes streams from on-demand services like MOG, Muve Music, Rdio, Rhapsody, Slacker, Spotify, Xbox Music and others, plus video streaming services like MTV.com, VEVO, Yahoo! Music, YouTube and more.

New certifications in the country realm include:

Kenny Chesney, "The Boys of Fall" -- platinum

Toby Keith, "Beers Ago" -- gold

Jake Owen, "Alone With You" -- platinum

Jake Owen, "Barefoot Blue Jean Night" -- double platinum

Josh Turner, "Why Don't We Just Dance" -- platinum

Carrie Underwood, "Before He Cheats" -- quadruple platinum

According to press materials, the expansion of the certification process was the culmination of a year-long project by the RIAA and a variety of label marketing, business and data analysis executives, in which the RIAA examined comprehensive information comparing data on digital downloads to similar data on on-demand audio and video streams. The RIAA also closely consulted with many digital music services, artist managers and industry leaders.