After nearly two full decades in the game, Kanye West finally has his first-ever Diamond-certified single by the RIAA.
It feels wild that Kanye West didn’t have any Diamond-certified records before today, but the legendary recording artist has scored his first with “Stronger,” which has officially gone 10-times platinum in the United States. The song, which samples Daft Punk, is now considered Kanye’s most commercially successful track, which may be surprising to some. At the time of its release, there were headlines being written about how many mix and mastering engineers were required to make this song perfect. Kanye previously admitted that his team mixed this record over seventy-five times, so this achievement is a monumental one for all parties involved in the creation of “Stronger.”
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The music video was also a long project for Ye to undertake, editing the clip for three straight months. His use of the “shutter shades” during the music video sparked an international trend, with kids everywhere reaching for their nearest pair of funky shades to rock to school.
In addition to Kanye’s first-ever Diamond plaque, he also had a busy September with the RIAA, going platinum with “Devil In A New Dress” and his Ye album, and gold with “Drive Slow,” “On God,” and “Hurricane.”
Congratulations are in order for Kanye West and his team! Here’s to more Diamond records.