Don’t Stop the Music: Rihanna Makes History With 100 Million Gold & Platinum Singles

Somewhere, Jay Z is saying “I told you so.”

Rihanna has secured herself a permanent place in the annals of music history. The good girl gone bad has now gone into legendary status, becoming the first artist to cross 100-million song certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The RIAA is the premier music-trade organization in the United States whose duties include tracking the sales of singles and albums and awarding Gold and Platinum certifications to musicians and their work. She is now the number-one artist on the RIAA’s list of Digital Single Awards, making her the first and only artist to surpass RIAA’s 100-million cumulative singles award threshold. The news comes on the heels of her earning 48-million new RIAA Digital Sales certifications (today alone), which are awarded based on download sales and on-demand streams of her music in the United States.

rihanna live

According to Cary Sherman, the Chairman & CEO of RIAA, “We’ve given awards to artists for nearly 60 years, but it’s rare that we have the opportunity to recognize a milestone like the one Rihanna has achieved. She has not only surpassed RIAA’s one-hundred million mark, but also is the first artist to do so. It’s an historic feat and a testament to an extraordinary career.”

Having reached the incredible milestone just ten years after releasing her Gold-selling 2005 debut, Music of the Sun, Rihanna has already amassed a long list of remarkable achievements from the RIAA. Her 2011 monster hit “We Found Love” (featuring Calvin Harris) went 9X-Platinum; 2013’s “Stay” (featuring Mikky Ekko) went 6X-Platinum, as did 2010’s “What’s My Name?” (featuring Drake) and “Only Girl (In the World).” Her most recent release, “Bitch Better Have My Money” has already gone Platinum in the three months it’s been out. Her albums are also RIAA juggernauts; all together, she’s sold 7.5 million copies, comprised of one double-Platinum seller (2007’s Good Girl Gone Bad) and five Platinum sellers (2006’s A Girl Like Me, 2009’s Rated R, 2010’s Loud, 2011’s Talk That Talk, and 2012’s Unapologetic.

What a remarkable achievement for any artist. Does her being a woman make it even sweeter?

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