What was the first song to be certified diamond?
Ever since Perry Como’s ‘Catch A Falling Star’ was awarded the first gold record back in 1958, the Record Industry Association of America have established the universally accepted measure of a release’s success, granting gold, platinum, and multi-platinum to some of the biggest stars in the music business. From Elton John to Bananarama, it’s lucrative RIAA approval that a plethora of stars crave.
There’s a surprising array of categories beyond just the single and the album, covering home video and even ringtones in eligibility, but the ultimate prize is the diamond, recognising the sale of 10,000,000 units and created off the back of one, phenomenally successful single fairly late in one star’s career.
It was the double punch of the disco craze and the mid-1970s peak of the blockbuster album which created the platinum. Johnny Taylor’s ‘Disco Lady’ was the first single recipient, and the monster-selling Eagles’ Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 was the first platinum album, a compilation still refusing to die and standing as the third-biggest selling release of the 20th century. To no surprise, Michael Jackson’s 1982 LP Thriller was one of the first to go multi-platinum, topping the Eagles with second place for most album sales.
As the listening formats have changed over the years across the rise of streaming, physical sales have naturally gone down and factored in the RIAA’s collation of sales data. One album unit now includes ten tracks from a record downloaded or 1,500 on-demand audio or video streams.
The artists with the most diamond album gongs go to country star Garth Brooks, boasting an impressive nine in total, 1998’s Double Live selling a whopping 23 million units. Canadian rapper Drake enjoys the most diamond singles at 80, 2016’s ‘One Love’ featuring Wizkid a monster seller he’s yet to top.
It was one single in particular that prompted the RIAA to conceive its premier award. Elton John’s ‘Candle in the Wind 1997’ was the fastest-selling single in UK history since charts began, and the second in physical sales behind Bing Crosby’s ‘White Christmas’.
But who did Elton John write ‘Candle in the Wind’ about?
Originally an ode to Marilyn Monroe from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, the national outpouring of grief surrounding Princess Diana’s death in 1997, on operatic levels and stoked by the country’s red top newspapers who had hounded her late in life, was unlike anything the country had seen.
The previous year’s cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’ in response to the Dunblane school massacre setting a precedent, Virgin mogul Richard Branson conceived the idea for a commemorative rework when noticing the book for condolences at St James’ Park referencing John’s and Bernie Taupin’s original ‘Candle in the Wind’ lyrics.
Performed only once at Diana’s funeral and never officially issued on any of John’s numerous compilations or best-ofs, the George Martin-produced single is a strange anomaly in his discography, a song which brought him a new hinterland of attention and defined him in the eyes of many, yet also a cultural document of a key moment in the UK story of the 1990s.
Reflecting on the single’s success, John stated: “I think this is the biggest accolade you can be given because it means your fans have gone out and bought your records. And that’s why we make records – for our public.”
