British songwriter Ed Sheeran topped the July 2016 list of certifications awarded to songwriters and publishers by the National Music Publishers Association in the US. The NMPA's Gold & Platinum Programme identifies and honours songwriters based on certifications of songs by fellow-organisation the Recorded Industry Association of America, which awards platinum and gold certifications for recordings.
In July, the NMPA awarded 356 certifications of hit songs to top songwriters. RIAA counts both sales and on-demand streams towards its gold (500K), platinum (1 million) and multi-platinum (2 million +) thresholds.
Ed Sheeran topped the month's certifications with six nods for Sing, The A-Team, Give Me Love, all three certified Platinum, and Kiss Me, Tenerife Sea, and Drunk all certified Gold. Also receiving six certifications is Dijon McFarlane (a.k.a. DJ Mustard) who gets awards for Needed Me, performed by Rihanna, certified Gold, Platinum and Multi-Platinum and L.A. Love (LA, LA) by Fergie, certified Gold and Platinum and Saved by Ty Dolla $ign, certified Gold.
Benjamin McKee, Alexander Grant, Daniel Reynolds and Daniel Sermon (from the band Imagine Dragons) received five certifications for On Top of the World, certified Gold, Platinum and Multi-Platinum and I Bet My Life, certified Gold and Platinum.
On the publishing side, Universal Music Publishing Group got 86 certifications, followed by Sony/ATV Music Publishing with 85 certifications and Warner/Chappell (63 certifications).
Aside from major publishers, BMG got 50 certifications, followed Kobalt Music (22 certifications), SONGS Music Publishing (11), Reach Music (9), Pulse Music Publishing (6), Reservoir (3), Downtown Music Publishing Group (3), Wixen Music (3), The Administration MP (2), Bicycle Music (2), Disney Music Group (2), Ole (2), Round Hill Music (2), The Royalty Network (2), Big Yellow Dog (1), Imagem (1) and Meriwar Music (1). Overall, non-major publishers accounted for 122 certifications.
