It's a good thing 50 Cent bought that spacious mansion in Connecticut a few months back. The year's best-selling artist is going to need at least one of its 52 rooms to display all the gold and platinum albums he's amassed.

50 Cent's major-label debut LP, Get Rich or Die Tryin', has been certified six-times platinum for sales of more than 6.4 million, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. Although one more week's worth of record sales has yet to be counted by SoundScan, Get Rich or Die Tryin', which dropped in February, stands to be the top-selling album of 2003.

Include the plaques he earned for his work with the G-Unit, whose debut, Beg for Mercy, was certified double platinum, and 50 beats out the act next in line, Outkast, as far as RIAA certifications go.

Although Speakerboxxx/ The Love Below has sold 2.7 million copies since September, its six-times platinum certification stems from the fact that it's a double album, and the RIAA counts units, not whole albums, as the criteria for gold (500,000 units shipped) and platinum (1 million shipped) certifications.

While both can boast three-times platinum status, it looks like Linkin Park will edge out Evanescence for 2003's best-selling rock act. Meteora, which has sold more than 3.3 million since March, gives Linkin Park a perfect platinum streak through their first three releases. Reanimation, their 2002 remix album, was certified platinum, and their 2000 debut, Hybrid Theory, earned an eight-times platinum plaque.

Evanescence, averaging sales of 100,000 copies per week in December compared to Meteora's 70,000, is poised to have the best-selling debut by a group with their album, Fallen. Since March, the disc has sold more than 3.2 million copies.

Five female artists are tied for having double-platinum albums, though Beyoncé's Dangerously in Love, which sold more than 2.3 million copies, will likely be the best-selling album by a woman. Hilary Duff's Metamorphosis, with more than 2.1 million sold, will rank next, followed by Kelly Clarkson's Thankful, Celine Dion's One Heart and Britney Spears' In the Zone.

"American Idol" did not limit its dividends to Clarkson. Second-season runner-up Clay Aiken will have the honor of being the second-best-selling solo artist of 2003. Aiken's Measure of a Man sold more than 1.9 million copies since October, for a double-platinum certification. Aiken also came up big in the singles department, chalking up sales of more than 945,000 copies for "Bridge Over Troubled Water," for the only certified platinum single of the year.

Metallica earned their 10th multiplatinum album with St. Anger, which was certified double platinum, as was R. Kelly's Chocolate Factory, Josh Groban's Closer and the soundtrack to "Tupac: Resurrection."

In all, the RIAA certified 271 gold, 130 platinum and 136 multiplatinum albums in 2003.

While those certified artists have reason to celebrate, the rest of the music industry continues to suffer sales-wise. Once again overall music sales are down, though the good news is that the decline isn't as steep as it had been in years before.

Overall sales, including digital downloads, are down just 2.2 percent from 2002. Since sales from online record stores like iTunes, Napster and Buymusic only began to be calculated in July, no direct 2002 correlation can be made. However, music sales excluding digital tracks are down just 4.7 percent, compared with 12.9 percent in 2002.

That's what the sales of 17.5 million digital tracks can do to year-end figures.

As digital tracks rise, sales of cassettes continue to plummet, dropping 40.2 percent compared to last year.

The most striking statistic of 2003 comes from the sale of commercial singles. Singles have been going south for years, and the trend held true for 2003, though not by much. Thanks to massive success on the singles chart by Clay Aiken and the second-season "American Idol" winner, Ruben Studdard, single sales dropped only 4.5 percent, compared to the 61.4 percent dive they took in 2002.