Creed’s latest Wind-Up album, “Weathered,” has been certified quintuple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for U.S. sales of 5 million copies. The set debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 after its release last November, and logged eight weeks on top of the chart. “Weathered” continues to show its staying power, and currently holds at No. 2 on the chart for a second week after being knocked back by Alan Jackson’s Arista Nashville set “Drive.”
“Weathered” reached the five times platinum mark faster than any previous Creed release. It was a little more than nine months after the band’s last album, 1999’s “Human Clay,” was issued that the RIAA gave it the same certification. The band’s 1997 debut, “My Own Prison,” earned the designation three years and five months after its release. To date, those albums have been certified 10- and five-times platinum, respectively.
“Laundry Service” (Epic), the first English-language album from Latin pop star Shakira, and Pink’s Arista set “M!ssundasood” each notched double platinum sales since their release last November, according to the RIAA’s latest accounting. The same level was reached by Michael Jackson’s “Invincible” (Epic), Ja Rule’s Murder, Inc. set “Pain is Love,” and Enrique Iglesias’ “Escape” (Interscope), each released last October.
Linkin Park’s “Hybrid Theory” (Warner Bros.) continues to prove popular at retail. The album was certified seven times platinum by the RIAA for U.S. sales of 7 million copies. It first earned gold (500,000 U.S. copies sold) a little more than a month after its October 2000 release, and went platinum just a month later. The album, which finished as the No. 6 album in Billboard’s 2001 year-end wrap-up, peaked last month at No. 2 on The Billboard 200 after 62 weeks on the chart.
And little more than a month after their release, new Columbia albums by rappers Lil Bow Wow (“Doggy Bag”) and Nas (“Stillmatic”), and the latest Interscope set by modern rock act No Doubt (“Rock Steady”) have all been certified platinum by the RIAA for U.S. sales of 1 million copies. Other recently released titles to reach platinum in the latest RIAA accounting are Craig David’s “Born To Do It” (Wildstar/Atlantic), Diana Krall’s “The Look of Love” (Impulse), and Ludacris’ “Word of Mouf” (Def Jam South).
