Kanye West‘s long-awaited ‘Donda’ album may have been a critical polarizer upon its August unveiling, but the commercial response to the effort has been everything but.
After debuting at #1 on the Billboard 200 with one of the year’s highest first-week figures, the set’s been a mainstay inside the chart’s top 10 (even found at #4 this week).
The ongoing success led to a quick GOLD certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) – meaning it’s already sold at least 500,000 copies in the United States alone. But, before Kanye and camp could really celebrate the news he was greeted with reports his third #1 hit, ‘Stronger’ (2007), had muscled its way to Diamond status.
Details inside:
Before Wednesday (October 6), only 62 songs in the history of recorded music had ever been certified Diamond – meaning they sold the equivalent of 10 million units in the United States. According to news from the RIAA, West’s ‘Stronger’ – found aboard his 2007 album ‘Graduation’ – is now in the exclusive class.
His first tune ever certified as high, the ongoing success of the Daft Punk-sampled hit helped push Kanye up to the #4 spot of the most-certified artists of the digital era (approximately 107.5 million). Only Rihanna, Drake, and Taylor Swift have more career-wide sales.
In addition to great RIAA news for ‘Donda’ and ‘Stronger,’ West’s 2008 album, ‘Ye,’ was upgraded to Platinum status on September 30. [source]