Some major hardware for Aldean.
Reigning ACM Artist of the Decade, Jason Aldean, has had a pretty fascinating career. With 32 #1s, 27 platinum certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and over 55 million units sold in the U.S. alone, the “She’s Country” singer has had a career few could ever dream of.
Despite delivering some rock-solid hits over the years, namely with early tracks such as “Why,” “The Truth” and “Laughed Until We Cried,” lately, Aldean hasn’t quite lived up to the expectations in recent memory. Quite frankly, his stretch of three albums starting from 2019’s 9 to the double album, Macon and Georgia, was pretty disastrous, with the Georgia native delivering career lows on tracks such as Georgia’s autotune disaster, “Ain’t Enough Cowboy.”
With that being said, however, there’s really no denying just how successful he’s been from a pure commercial standpoint. Beyond the aforementioned ACM Artist of the Decade nod, he’s scored some major career accomplishments over the past year. In particular, he recently passed both Alan Jackson and George Strait for fourth-most #1s on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart (27) back in July when his current single, “Don’t Tell On Me,” rose to #1.
Today, he’s scored an even bigger accomplishment, receiving not one but TWO certified Diamond songs from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) with “Dirt Road Anthem” and “You Make It Easy.”
While all of this sounds great, the RIAA (and its subsequent certification process) can be a bit confusing, so let me explain how it all works.
Starting with their background, the RIAA is a trade organization consisting of major record labels and distributors that aims to “support and promote the creative and commercial vitality of music labels in the United States.” With that being said, however, their primary feature, in terms of public discussion of music, is undoubtedly their tracking of artists’ sales. These sales, of course, are tracked in terms of “gold,” “platinum,” and “diamond” certifications once a song or album hits the required criteria.
RIAA Criteria
When a single or album has sold at least 500,000 units, it is then eligible for a Gold certification; when it hits 1 million, it is eligible for Platinum certification. And finally, a song or record must sell 10 million units for it to be certified Diamond. There have been 26 Diamond-Certified songs in country music history. And keep in mind that the RIAA doesn’t just keep a running tab on these awards and hand out plaques; an artist’s label will actively pursue certification by applying, submitting statistics, and paying a few hundred dollars to undergo an audit to verify the sales. And then… You must purchase a plaque for each person involved. Well, only if you want to…
As for what constitutes a “unit,” there are distinctions between sales regarding both singles and albums. Starting with singles, one paid download or 150 on-demand streams constitutes a unit. Albums, on the other hand, are a bit different. Given how popular streaming is in today’s age, there are three different ways an album can sell a single unit: 1) a permanent digital album or physical album sale, which basically means someone bought the record; 2) 10 permanent track downloads from the album, which laughably wouldn’t even be 1/3 of a Morgan Wallen album these days; or 3) 1,500 on-demand audio and/or video streams from the album. Of course, streaming is how a bulk of the units are earned these days.
With these certifications, “Dirt Road Anthem” and “You Make It Easy” are only the 25th and 26th “country” songs in history to sell 10 million units and subsequently reach Diamond status, joining the likes of Luke Combs’ “Beautiful Crazy,” Zach Bryan’s “Something in the Orange,” Chris Stapleton’s “Tennessee Whiskey,” Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats” and more.
More notably, Aldean is now one of only four country artists in history to own two or more Diamond-certified songs, joining the likes of Morgan Wallen (6), Luke Combs (4) and Kane Brown (2).
Reflecting on the accomplishment, Aldean would thank his fans for making the songs a part of their lives, noting how grateful he is to etch his name in country music history.
“Having two songs reach Diamond status is something I never could have imagined when we were making these records. These songs have taken on a life of their own because of the fans. I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who has listened, streamed, bought the records, come to the shows and made these songs part of their lives. It’s special to have a moment that is still a career first all these years in, especially one that is all due to the fans. Thank you guys so much. We want to keep doing this and keep putting out songs and touring for a long time to come, and we don’t take getting to do this for granted.”
An entire list of all Diamond-certified songs classified as country includes the following:
- “You Make It Easy” – Jason Aldean (Diamond)
- “Dirt Road Anthem” – Jason Aldean (12x Platinum)
- “You Proof” – Morgan Wallen (Diamond)
- “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” – Shaboozey (12x Platinum)
- “Tennessee Whiskey” – Chris Stapleton (2x Diamond)
- “Heartless” (feat. Morgan Wallen) – Diplo (Diamond)
- “Last Night” – Morgan Wallen (12x Platinum)
- “Chasin’ You” – Morgan Wallen (Diamond)
- “Whiskey Glasses” – Morgan Wallen (13x Platinum)
- “Wasted On You” – Morgan Wallen (12x Platinum)
- “If I Die Young” – The Band Perry (Diamond)
- “Before He Cheats” – Carrie Underwood (11x Platinum)
- “When It Rains It Pours” – Luke Combs (13x Platinum)
- “Hurricane” – Luke Combs (12x Platinum)
- “Beautiful Crazy” – Luke Combs (15x Platinum)
- “Die a Happy Man” – Thomas Rhett (Diamond)
- “Something in the Orange” – Zach Bryan (12x Platinum)
- “She Got the Best of Me” – Luke Combs (Diamond)
- “What Ifs” (feat. Lauren Alaina) – Kane Brown (Diamond)
- “Heaven” – Kane Brown (11x Platinum)
- “In Case You Didn’t Know” – Brett Young (Diamond)
- “Need You Now” – Lady A (12x Platinum)
- “Body Like a Backroad” – Sam Hunt (11x Platinum)
- “Old Town Road” (feat. Billy Ray Cyrus) – Lil Nas X (17x Platinum)
- “Wagon Wheel” – Darius Rucker (11x Platinum)
- “Cruise” – Florida Georgia Line (14x Platinum)
“Dirt Road Anthem”
“You Make It Easy”
