Why aren't all sales certified? I always see claimed sales VS certified sales, but why aren't ALL sales certified?

For example, wikipedia says Taylor Swift has 100m claimed sales & 76.3 certified sales.

Is it impossible to certify all sales? I thought all sales would be logged since they are required to chart on things like the Hot 100.

It costs the label money.

I have been wondering this myself. Considering We Can't Stop and Wrecking Ball are 3x Platinum at this point, yet have received no certification at all. Same with Can't Be Tamed and Adore You, which should be Platinum by now.

You have to pay for certifications.

Maybe they are all flopping and Itunes is just a big ton of BS

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In some countries certifications are automatic after certain amount of sales are reached. While in other labels must pay for it

When pay for certification why the numbers are available everywhere?
And with the state of music, labels are probably saving their coins and thinking about their bottom line.

Also, if you sell say 1.6 million in the U.S., you may qualify for a "platinum" certification but not a "2x platinum" certification, so 600k sales go uncertified.

Never knew the label has to pay to get certifications

The label.
IASF Is still 2 X. Platinum, despite it selling 3 million

RIAA Certification Process

All certification audits are conducted for a fee. If multiple sales levels are simultaneously certified, only one audit certification fee is charged. Companies requesting their initial certification audit must incur any travel expenses by the RIAA®'s independent auditor. The charge for certifications is $350 for RIAA® member companies. Non-members are charged $450 per certification, which must be pre-paid. Companies will be charged the full audit certification fee for any requests that do not meet the Gold® and Platinum® Program requirements.

A 30-day time limit is set for pending certifications. If a full audit cannot be completed within this time, a charge of $100 will be rendered to member companies and $200 to non-member companies.

Requests for audio and music video certification may be made to the RIAA®. Companies must submit one copy of the audio or music video product upon certification request. All versions of the title's catalog must be represented.

It costs money to the label, nothing from Gaga has been certified since You And I

Like people said, money.

Ex: Carly is under 604 Records in Canada. Good time was a #1 hit here, should be 3x Platinum, This Kiss should be Gold.. but they are not certified. I doubt 604 Records wants to spend money to certify these when Interscope makes most of the royalties. Curiosity on the other hand, selling around as much as This Kiss, is certified Gold, since it was actually recorded under 604 Records.