While living legends Paul McCartney and Eric Clapton earned their 21st gold certifications this month, younger acts, including Staind, Linkin Park, and Nelly Furtado, picked up their first platinum and multi-platinum albums, according to the RIAA’s June certifications list.
McCartney’s latest gold (for 500,000 copies sold) record, as well as platinum (for 1 million sold) and double platinum, is for his Wings retrospective, Wingspan: Hits and History. (Albums are often certified gold, platinum, and multi-platinum simultaneously.) Clapton’s new gold plaque is for Reptile.
Though McCartney and Clapton are clearly running out of wall space to hang the plaques, Staind, Linkin Park, and Furtado are among the acts this month to receive the honors for the first time. Proving rock is not dead, Staind’s Break the Cycle was certified gold, platinum, and double platinum; Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory earned the band its first multi-platinum award as it was certified for sales of 2 million; and Static X’s Wisconsin Death Trip was certified platinum. Comic country artist Bill Engvall also received his inaugural platinum award for Here’s Your Sign.
In other firsts, singer-songwriter Furtado and country starlet Lila McCann got their first platinum awards for Whoa, Nelly! and Lila, respectively. Four artists received gold albums for the first time in June – Sum 41 (All Killer No Filler), Saliva (Every Six Seconds), Drag-On (Opposite of H2O), and Tamia (A Nu Day).
For a complete list of the June certifications, check out www.riaa.com.