Toby Keith Picks Up A Pair Of Posthumous RIAA Certifications, “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” Goes 5x Platinum

More hardware for the Big Dog Daddy.

It’s hard to believe we’re approaching two years since the tragic passing of the late, great Toby Keith. As we all know, the Oklahoma native passed away on February 5, 2024, at the age of 62 after a long battle with stomach cancer. Words can hardly describe the lasting impact he’s had on not only the genre itself but all his long-time fans, members of the military and the countless number of lives touched through his philanthropy, namely the Toby Keith Foundation, which benefitted pediatric cancer patients and their families.

Of course, from a legacy standpoint, few artists have matched the “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” singer’s career accomplishments. Beyond his recently-named status as one of the top touring artists of the millennium (#24 overall), Keith scored 41 Top 10 hits, 20 #1 singles, 10 #1 albums, 14 ACM Awards and a plethora of other award throughout his illustrious career.

Notably, Keith has experienced an incredibly amount success in terms of certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Throughout his 30+ year career, he’s captured a staggering 25 platinum certifications and 44 gold certifications, totaling 61.5 million units sold.

This week, Keith scored a pair of posthumous RIAA certifications for his career-defining 2002 #1 hit, “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American),” which was certified 5x platinum and his 1993 #2 hit, “A Little Less Talk and a Lot More  Action,” which was finally certified gold.

While all of this sounds great, the RIAA (and its subsequent certification process) can be a bit confusing, so let me explain how it all works.

Starting with their background, the RIAA is a trade organization consisting of major record labels and distributors that aims to “support and promote the creative and commercial vitality of music labels in the United States.” With that being said, however, their primary feature, in terms of public discussion of music, is undoubtedly their tracking of artists’ sales. These sales, of course, are tracked in terms of “gold,” “platinum,” and “diamond” certifications once a song or album hits the required criteria.

RIAA Criteria

When a single or album has sold at least 500,000 units, it is then eligible for a Gold certification; when it hits 1 million, it is eligible for Platinum certification. And finally, a song or record must sell 10 million units for it to be certified Diamond. There’s only been 18 Diamond-Certified songs in country music history. And keep in mind that the RIAA doesn’t just keep a running tab on these awards and hand out plaques; an artist’s label will actively pursue certification by applying, submitting statistics, and paying a few hundred dollars to undergo an audit to verify the sales. And then… You must purchase a plaque for each person involved. Well, only if you want to…

As for what constitutes a “unit,” there are distinctions between sales regarding both singles and albums. Starting with singles, one paid download or 150 on-demand streams constitutes a unit. Albums, on the other hand, are a bit different. Given how popular streaming is in today’s age, there are three different ways an album can sell a single unit: 1) a permanent digital album or physical album sale, which basically means someone bought the record; 2) 10 permanent track downloads from the album, which laughably wouldn’t even be 1/3 of a Morgan Wallen album these days; or 3) 1,500 on-demand audio and/or video streams from the album. Of course, streaming is how a bulk of the units are earned these days.

With the two new certifications, “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” is now the highest-selling song of Keith’s career, surpassing “Should’ve Been a Cowboy”,” which is currently certified 4x platinum. Additionally, with a total of 61.5 million units sold, Keith surpassed none other than Eric Church (60.5 million) for the 13th highest-selling country artist in history. As of today, he sits behind the likes of Garth Brooks, George Strait, Luke Combs and Morgan Wallen, the latter two undoubtedly benefiting from today’s streaming era.

Top 15 Highest-Selling Country Artists (RIAA)

1. Luke Combs
2. Garth Brooks
3. Morgan Wallen
4. Luke Bryan
5. George Strait
6. Kenny Chesney
7. Tim McGraw
8. Zach Bryan
9. Chris Stapleton
10. Carrie Underwood
11. Blake Shelton
12. Shania Twain
13. Toby Keith
14. Eric Church
15. Alan Jackson

Before you go, fire up “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” for ‘ol time’s sake.

The post Toby Keith Picks Up A Pair Of Posthumous RIAA Certifications, “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” Goes 5x Platinum first appeared on Whiskey Riff.