News
June 10, 2014 | Gold & Platinum
RIAA Names Eminem First Artist To Earn Two Digital Diamond Awards
WASHINGTON–The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) today awarded Eminem with a new Diamond certification in recognition of “Not Afraid” (Aftermath Entertainment/Interscope Records) surpassing the 10 million threshold counting song sales and streams. Eminem also holds an 11x multi-Platinum Digital Single Diamond Award for “Love The Way You Lie” (featuring Rihanna; Aftermath/Interscope), and today became the first artist to earn two RIAA Digital Single Diamond Awards.
Cary Sherman, Chairman & CEO, RIAA said the following about Eminem’s Diamond Award milestone:
“We are delighted to recognize Eminem as the first artist to earn two RIAA Digital Diamond Awards. This singular achievement – earning a Diamond Award on two separate digital songs – is unparalleled, and we congratulate him on forever etching a mark in Gold & Platinum Program history.”
In addition to two Diamond song honors, Eminem also has two 10x multi-Platinum Diamond certified albums: “The Marshall Mathers LP” (Aftermath/Interscope, 2000) and “The Eminem Show” (Aftermath/Interscope, 2002). His career RIAA album awards represent more than 37 million sold in the United States, while his digital single certifications now surpass the 31 million threshold, counting downloads and streams and spanning 10 separate songs.
Eminem kicks off The Monster Tour with Rihanna this summer in Los Angeles, August 7th and 8th. The Monster Tour will then continue to Detroit August 16th and 17th and close in New York August 22nd and 23rd.
Officially launched in 1958, the RIAA’s Gold & Platinum Program expanded in 1999 to include a Diamond Award honoring U.S. sales of 10 million or more copies of an album or single. The RIAA established its Digital Single Award in 2004 in recognition of the significant sales of emerging digital music formats. Most recently, in 2013, the RIAA added music streams to its Digital Single Award to better reflect artists’ commercial success in a transformative music marketplace.
The list of more than 110 Diamond titles, across all genres of music, represent some of the best and most influential sound recordings in history. Diamond honors awarded to The Beatles, Justin Bieber, Garth Brooks, Mariah Carey, The Eagles, Michael Jackson, Kid Rock, Lady Gaga, Led Zeppelin, Madonna, Santana, Bruce Springsteen, Usher and more represent an audio almanac of the last half century.
All RIAA certifications are calculated by Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman. Complete lists of all album, single, mastertone and video awards can be accessed at riaa.com, while new and notable program news can be found at facebook.com/GoldandPlatinum.