- Who
- Elton John
- What
- first first
- Where
- United States ()
- When
Elton John’s (UK, b. Reginald Dwight) “Something About the Way You Look Tonight”/"Candle in the Wind 1997” was the first US single to be awarded a Diamond certificate by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), in recognition of sales of 10 million.
The double A-sided tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales was released on 22 September 1997 and, remarkably, had achieved 8x multi-platinum status (8 million copies sold) just 24 hours later, according to the RIAA. The single was certified 11x multi-platinum on 9 October 1997 – 17 days after its release. The single’s previous award had been for 9 million sales (9x multi-platinum) on 1 October 2019. There was no formal recognition of it passing the 10-million mark.
As of 30 October 2019, just 33 singles had received a Diamond award, led by Eminem, Katy Perry (three each), Lady Gaga and Ed Sheeran (two each). Sir Elton’s “Something…”/”Candle…” is comfortably his most-certified single, ahead of the 3x-multi-platinum “Tiny Dancer” and “Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going to Be a Long Long Time)”.
The fastest-selling single in US music history spent more than 15 years as the lone Diamond recipient, but the rate at which Diamond certification is awarded has increased in recent years now that streams are factored into the calculations along with digital and physical sales.
