While Drake has been dominating both Canadian and American headlines in recent weeks, another Toronto-based hip-hop artist has been quietly making money moves- and they’ve paid off majorly.
The Weeknd’s breakout hit, “The Hills,” was recently certified diamond by the RIAA- his first single to achieve such an honor. (And just in time for Canada Day, too!)
Achieving diamond certification is no easy task. Singles and albums are certified diamond by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) when they have moved at least 10 million equivalent units, according to Forbes. That impressive total is comprised of actual sales, as well as streams that add up to equivalent copies moved.
What is most interesting about the success of “The Hills,” which was released as the second official single from The Weeknd’s album Beauty Behind The Madness, is that it was not initially incredibly successful on its own. “The Hills” was released on May 27 of 2015 and was met with positive critic and audience reception, but the single didn’t experience it’s peak success until later in the summer of 2015 following the chart-topping success of the artist’s other major hit single, “Can’t Feel My Face,” which hit reached number one on the Top 100 charts in late August of 2015. While “Can’t Feel My Face” held onto the number one spot for several weeks, it was eventually replaced by “The Hills.”Beauty Behind The Madness was followed up by other successful singles and albums including Starboy, My Dear Melancholy, and several other singles and collaborations as well as multiple Coachella appearances.
In response to achieving diamond certification, The Weeknd shared the following tweet, complete with a diamond emoji at the end: “became a diamond selling artist today. i’m nothing without my team. thank you , XO.”
While he hasn’t released an official statement, there are multiple rumors that the artist is about to release a new album.
