The first song to reach platinum status
Chart records are typically dominated by a select few famous artists who have laid their mark on the music industry and are adored by millions. The history books are littered with entrances from The Beatles and Taylor Swift, but the first artist to have a song reach platinum status is a name unfamiliar to most music fans.
As a reminder, for an artist to achieve a gold award in the United States, their song must sell 500,000 copies. However, for platinum, the figure is 1,000,000 copies and 2,000,000 for multi-platinum. Furthermore, diamond status is reached after 10,000,000 sales.
Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, due to the smaller population, a song only needs to sell 600,000 copies to go platinum and 400,000 to reach gold. The region has no diamond award, with platinum standing as the highest honour.
The Recording Industry Association of America introduced the platinum gong in 1976, with Johnnie Taylor becoming the first artist awarded the prestigious prize. Notably, Taylor was middle-aged and had been a jobbing artist for many years without ever tasting success, but his track ‘Disco Lady’ successfully tapped into the zeitgeist.
While he’d previously had a top-five hit with ‘Who’s Making Love’ in 1967, Taylor didn’t manage to stay at the top of the chart and quickly fell back into the periphery. Although he was always successful enough to earn well from being a professional musician, the soul figure was unknown to the average person on the street.
However, ‘Disco Lady’ was released at an important cultural moment when disco started to take over, and by simply having the genre within the title of his song, Taylor had cooked up a recipe for success. “A lot of people thought it was disco. But it was not a disco tune. We were just talking about disco,” he said of the track.
In total, ‘Disco Lady’ spent four weeks at the top of the chart in 1976 and caused sales to spike in his album Eargasm, which peaked in sixth position. Despite his talent, Taylor reverted to his journeyman ways and out of the attention of the mainstream. He never intended to seek fame, but it briefly happened, and Taylor rode the wave before dropping out of view.
At the height of his commercial success, Taylor appeared on American Bandstand in 1976. The Memphis singer introduced himself to host Dick Clark and the viewers at home, providing an insight into the man behind the first platinum record.
While he proudly boasted about once being on a shared bill at Madison Square Garden, Taylor admitted that usually he’d perform in front of “200 or 300” people at churches, noting: “They’d be eating hot dogs and popcorn, and you’ve got to generate enough interest to get them back on side.”
Listen to ‘Disco Lady’ below.
