Summer touring partners Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera each saw their latest solo albums reach the triple-platinum plateau in August.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified Timberlake’s “Justified” (Jive) and Aguilera’s “Stripped” (RCA) for U.S. shipments of 3 million copies. Both albums debuted and peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200.
The artists recently wrapped their co-headlining Justified & Stripped U.S. summer tour and now have set their sights on Europe. Aguilera will begin her own two-month tour there Sept. 12 in Greece with Japanese and Australian dates to follow.
Timberlake will tour the region beginning Nov. 15 in Belgium, and will close the run in late January in the U.K. His tour will be sponsored by McDonald’s as part of a two-year worldwide marketing agreement announced earlier this week.
Back in the U.S., Tool’s “Lateralus” (Volcano) and the DreamWorks soundtrack to “Shrek” were each certified double platinum in August for shipments of two million copies.
Certified for shipments of 1 million copies, “Golden Road” (Capitol Nashville) and “No Pads, No Helmets… Just Balls” (Lava) earned Keith Urban and Simple Plan their first platinum albums last month, respectively.
Also reaching the million mark were titles by Dave Matthews Band (“Live at Folsom Field,” RCA), John Mayer (“Any Given Thursday,” Columbia), Ashanti (“Chapter II,” Murder, Inc.) and Green Day (“Kerplunk!,” Lookout), as well as the soundtracks to “Lizzie McGuire” (Disney) and “Bad Boys II” (Bad Boy/Universal).
Despite his legal troubles, R&B star R. Kelly continued to rack up honors, as his 1998 Jive set “R.” reached the eight times platinum mark. Kelly received permission to launch a brief U.S. tour last month; the Chicago-based artist hasn’t been allowed to leave the area without a judge’s approval since he was indicted June 5, 2002, on charges of having sex with an underage girl.
John Denver was posthumously awarded his 13th platinum award for “Rocky Mountain High: The Best of John Denver” (Madacy Entertainment). His cumulative RIAA-certified total is 33.5 million albums.
