Jay-Z's '4:44' Tidal exclusive has already gone platinum
UPDATE: July 5, 2017, 4:35 p.m. UTC Updated to clarify that the news about 4:44 is not as straightforward as the RIAA made it seem, according to SPIN. On July 2, Sprint reportedly sponsored free downloads of the album via the website 444.tidal.com, which Billboard reported were also counted toward the platinum certification. The original story follows below:
Looks like the fact that Jay-Z's highly anticipated album is still a Tidal and Sprint exclusive isn't stopping fans from showing it all the love.
The rapper's 13th studio album, 4:44, which was released on his streaming service on June 30 has already gone platinum. NBD, Hov.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) tweeted the announcement on Wednesday, sharing that the rapper currently has more platinum albums than any other hip-hop artist.
The RIAA also updated Jay-Z's info on its website to reflect the new stats, sharing that 4:44 has sold one million certified units in less than a week. According to the RIAA's criteria, "1,500 on-demand audio and/or video streams" equals a single "unit" toward an album's status, which means a whole lot of people have been jamming to Jay on Tidal.
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Ed Sheeran’s Divide and Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN are the only other albums that have gone platinum in 2017, but both took significantly longer than five days to reach that mark. Sheeran's album was released on March 3 and didn't hit the platinum mark until May 1. Kendrick's album was released on April 14 and went platinum about a month later on May 20.
Jay-Z earned his first gold record for his Dead Presidents single back in 1996, and has been consistently cranking out platinum hits since. Jay's Watch The Throne collab with Kanye West — who you can bet was dedicated a few bars on 4:44 — also went platinum, but 'Ye made history back in April when his album The Life of Pablo became the first to go platinum based on streaming-only listens.
That's cool and all, but Jay has an impressive 17 platinum albums in all.
Topics Music
Nicole is a Senior Editor at Mashable. She primarily covers entertainment and digital culture trends, and in her free time she can be found watching TV, sending voice notes, or going viral on Twitter for admiring knitwear. You can follow her on Twitter @nicolemichele5.
