Washington, DC (Top40 Charts/ RIAA) - RCA rocker and 2010 American
Music Awards (AMA) triple nominee
Ke$ha received the top spot for the most Gold & Platinum certifications in August, September, and October, according to the Recording
Industry Association of
America (RIAA's) monthly G&P tallies.
Ke$ha's debut album Animal (2010) certified Gold, while her digital singles 'Tik-Tok' and 'Your Love Is My Drug' went 5x and 2x multi-Platinum respectively and 'Blah Blah Blah' and 'Take It Off' each earned a Gold, to total more than 8.5 million units sold! Good luck to Ke$ha at this Sunday's AMAs where she is nominated for Artist of the Year, Pop/Rock Music - Favorite Female Artist, and T-Mobile Breakthrough Artist.
Celebrations were in order for the months' highest single certification -6x multi-Platinum- which also happens to be the RIAA's highest digital song certification EVER. The coveted award went to hip hop quartet The Black Eyed Peas for their enormously popular song 'I Gotta Feeling' (2009) selling more than six million downloads. Look out for the Universal/Interscope artists' highly anticipated sixth album release, The Beginning, in stores November 30.
Many more popular summer songs scored high RIAA multi-Platinum awards in August, September, and October. Topping the list were country sweethearts and Grammy hopefuls, Lady Antebellum, who saw 'I Need You Now' hit 4x multi-Platinum. The song is the Capitol Nashville band's best selling single ever.
Close behind at 3x multi-Platinum were four enormously popular 2010 releases: Capitol songstress Katy Perry's 'California Gurls' with Snoop Dogg, Atlantic rapper B.o.B.'s 'Airplanes' featuring Hayley Williams, British-born Mercury artist Taio Cruz's 'Break Your Heart' with Ludacris, and Def Jam rocker Rihanna's 'Don't Stop The Music.'
Double-Platinum plaques went to Rihanna's 'Rude Boy' (Def Jam), Justin Bieber and Ludacris' 'Baby' (Def Jam), Taio Cruz's 'Dynamite' (Mercury), Katy Perry's 'Teenage Dream' (Capitol), and Enrique Iglesias' 'I Like It' (Universal Records). An added tip of the hat to Enrique Iglesias for earning his very first RIAA multi-Platinum song award.
Fans quickly purchased more than one million copies of Bruno Mars' sweetly sung 'Just The Way You Are' (Elektra) to earn the Hawaiian singer-songwriter his very first Platinum award in less than three months. More first Platinum plaques went to Mercury Nashville country crooner Billy Currington, Universal Records R&B singer Shontelle, and eighth season American Idol winner and Jive artist Kris Allen for their respective 'People Are Crazy,' 'Impossible,' and 'Live Like We're Dying.'
B.o.B's catchy track "Magic," which features Weezer's lead singer Rivers Cuomo, also soared to Platinum heights. That cert marks B.o.B.'s third Platinum single off his debut album B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray (Atlantic, 2010).
Veteran hip hop artist Nelly saw his August release 'Just A Dream' reach Platinum in only two months this October. 'Just A Dream' hails from Nelly's November release Nelly 5.0 (Universal Records), the rapper's first album release in two years. Other swift certs included a Gold for country duo Sugarland's newest single 'Stuck Like Glue' (Gold in less than two months) and a Gold for Epic singer Sara Bareilles' 'King Of Anything' (Gold in less than four months).
August, September, and October's top album certification went to the RIAA's most certified band ever, The Beatles, for The Beatles 1967- 1970 (EMI) reaching 17x multi-Platinum. The Beatles have certified more than 177 million units since the RIAA's Gold & Platinum certification program launched in 1958.
The RIAA presented Justin Bieber his very first multi-Platinum album award for My World 2.0 (Island Records, 2010) selling more than two million copies. My World 2.0 is also nominated for the AMA's Pop/Rock Music - Favorite Album award, while The Bieb himself is up for Artist of the Year, Pop/Rock Music - Favorite Male Artist, and T-Mobile Breakthrough Artist of the Year.
Platinum album plaques went to country king Keith Urban for Defying Gravity (Liberty, 2009), Fox's magnetic Glee cast for Glee: The Music, Volume 1 (Columbia, 2009), and recently crowned 2010 CMA Female Vocalist of the Year, Miranda Lambert, for Revolution (Columbia Nashville, 2009). The Platinum album awards marked Keith's fifth, Glee's first (Glee: The Music, Volume 2 and Glee: The Music, Volume 3 are currently Gold), and Lambert's second.
Congratulations to French alt-rock band Phoenix who took their first-ever Gold award in September for selling more than 500,000 copies of their popular album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (Glassnote, 2009). The album also earned Phoenix the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album at last January's 52nd annual awards ceremony.
Veteran music icons James Taylor and Carole King earned a swift Gold for their May collaborative release Live At The Troubadour (Hear Music) from their hailed reunion at the legendary LA club. It was also a golden season for Luke Bryan who earned his first Gold album nod for Doin' My Thing released on Liberty in October 2009. Proving he's been doin' the right things, Luke also won the 45th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards' Top New Solo Vocalist and Top New Artist awards last spring.
In August, September, and October combined, the RIAA awarded a total of 91 digital singles and 28 albums. All certifications are calculated by Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman. Complete lists of all album, single, mastertone and video awards can also be accessed at www.riaa.com.
