Of the 129 albums that can boast at least a Diamond certification in the 71-year history of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), only six of them were delivered by solo Black male vocalists – Lionel Richie‘s ‘Can’t Slow Down,’ Prince’s ‘Purple Rain,’ Stevie Wonder’s ‘Songs in the Key of Life,’ Usher‘s ‘Confessions,’ and King of Pop Michael Jackson‘s ‘Bad’ and ‘Thriller.’
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And while the latter made history in 2022 for becoming the first singer overall in history to own multiple singles and albums certified as high, he also became the only male performer of color to own one Diamond plaque of each project type.
That changed Friday (February 9) thanks to a slew of certification upgrades afforded to the ‘Confessions‘ singer’s most popular titles.
Ahead of the Super Bowl halftime show he’s already promised will be a nod to Jackson’s legacy on February 11, Ush (born Usher Raymond) has joined his idol in a unique RIAA club.
Taking to press, the RIAA announced several updates to the certification statuses of some of Raymond’s biggest hits. See the full list below.
14x Platinum
- Confessions (Album)
13x Platinum
- Yeah (Single)
8x Platinum
- DJ Got Us Falling in Love (Single)
5x Platinum
- 8701 (Album)
- U Got It Bad (Single)
- Love in This Club Part I (Single)
4x Platinum
- Burn (Single)
- I Don’t Mind (Single)
3x Platinum
- Scream (Single)
- Confessions Part II (Single)
- Raymond v. Raymond (Album)
2x Platinum
- No Limit (Single)
- U Remind Me (Single)
- Hey Daddy (Single)
- Here I Stand (Album)
1x Platinum
- Caught Up (Single)
- Superstar (Single)
- Lemme See (Single)
- Trading Places (Single)
- Good Kisser (Single)
- U Don’t Have to Call (Single)
- Love in This Club Part II (Single)
- There Goes My Baby (Single)
- Lil Freak (Single)
- Looking 4 Myself (Album)
- Moving Mountains (Single)
Gold
- Papers (Single)
- Hard II Love (Album)
- Hot Tottie (Single)
For context, Diamond denotes sales equivalence of 10 million in the United States while Platinum and Gold represent 1 million and 500,000 respectively.
With the ascension of ‘Yeah’ to Diamond status, the 45-year-old has joined an elite crew of solo hitmakers who can boast having at least one album and one single certified at that level.
As of time reported the list includes Eminem (3 Diamond albums, 3 Diamond singles), Whitney Houston (3 Diamond albums, 1 Diamond single), Michael Jackson (2 Diamond albums, 2 Diamond singles), Mariah Carey (2 Diamond albums, 1 Diamond single), Elton John (1 Diamond single, 1 Diamond album), and Taylor Swift (1 Diamond album, 1 Diamond single).
Together, the shiny new plaques push Usher’s career digital single sales to 81.5 million – making him one of the best-selling acts of all time.
Among male vocalists, the only performers to have sold as many or more digital songs are Justin Bieber (122.5 million), The Weeknd (113 million), Morgan Wallen (103.5 million), Ed Sheeran (95 million), Chris Brown (94.5 million), Bruno Mars (91.5 million), Luke Combs (90.5 million), and Luke Bryan (81.5 million).
