JAY-Z's '4:44' hits platinum in less than a week
JAY-Z released his 13th studio album, 4:44, less that a week ago, but it has already
achieved a coveted industry distinction. The Brooklyn rapper’s latest project
notched platinum status in mere days, making it his 13th solo studio effort to
earn the designation. Jay has more platinum albums than any other hip-hop artist
— in fact, no others have more than 10 — and that’s not even counting the
platinum honors he has received for collaborative LPs with Kanye West, Linkin
Park, and R. Kelly.
“Props to Jay, he’s done it again!” RIAA chairman and CEO Cary Sherman said
in a statement. “Another platinum album adds to an already iconic career.”
4:44 Goes Platinum - JAY-Z’s 13 Platinum (or higher) solo studio Album Awards are more than any other hip hop artist. @s_c_ @RocNation #444 pic.twitter.com/oSSXrUpMUn— RIAA (@RIAA) July 5, 2017
Jay’s accomplishment means 4:44 tallied downright gaudy numbers. In
early 2016, the RIAA changed
its metric for gold and platinum honors to acknowledge streaming. Under the
new system, the RIAA counts 1,500 song streams off an album as one album sale.
The awards are then calculated based on a combination of streaming and
old-fashioned physical album sales.
Because Jay released 4:44 as a streaming exclusive, that means he
reached platinum status — in less than a week — without physical album sales. To
propel the record to the equivalent of 1 million album sales, listeners would
have had to stream 4:44‘s 10 tracks a total of at least 1.5
billion times. Even more impressive? Jay essentially handicapped himself within
the streaming sector, limiting 4:44 to his own TIDAL service and
keeping it off competitors like Spotify and Apple Music. Plus, he included a
stipulation that, initially, those who subscribed to TIDAL after midnight on
Friday morning couldn’t
access 4:44 if they weren’t Sprint subscribers. (The album is now
available to all TIDAL subscribers.)
JAY-Z and TIDAL have made headlines for their relationship with the RIAA in
the past. In February 2016, TIDAL and co-sponsor Samsung gave away 1 million
copies of Rihanna’s brand-new ANTI, helping the album secure
platinum status in less than 24 hours. The RIAA recognized the giveaway in
its calculation, but Billboard disqualified those numbers, on the
grounds that it doesn’t recognize gratis promotions.
When Jay released his previous album, Magna Carta… Holy Grail, in 2013, he similarly tested
the basis by which the RIAA designates albums platinum. The record predated
TIDAL by almost two years, but the rapper teamed
with Samsung, which distributed copies for free to its customers while
giving Jay and his entertainment company Roc Nation $5 per copy. The arrangement
led to near-instantaneous qualification for platinum status.
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