Chris Stapleton’s “Tennessee Whiskey” Certified Platinum
Along with all the other accolades Chris Stapleton has received over the past year, you can add gold and platinum certifications for his version of the country music classic, “Tennessee Whiskey” to the pile. Written by Dean Dillon and Linda Hargrove, first recorded by David Allan Coe in 1981, and then turned into a Top 5 hit song for George Jones in 1983, if the song wasn’t a country standard before, it is now.
The story of “Tennessee Whiskey” is almost as remarkable as the story of Chris Stapleton. With absolutely no radio play, and without being released as a single, a 35-year-old classic country song has now earned one of the highest sales distinctions in the music business, debunking the myth that modern consumers don’t want to hear old country music, and putting the power of country radio into question.
Of course the story of Stapleton’s version of “Tennessee Whiskey” is not one of perseverance over adversity necessarily. When he performed the song on the CMA Awards in November of 2015 with superstar Justin Timberlake, it sealed the song’s fate, and soon the song was rocketing to #1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. But without radio play, it was up to Stapleton’s performance, and the inertia of the song itself to carry it to platinum status. More and more that moment on the 2015 CMA Awards is looking like a historic point in the history of country music.
Stapleton’s debut album Traveller had already been certified platinum by the RIAA, and has now sold over 1.3 million records. Despite continued general ambivalence from country radio, the album continues to sell well some eight months after the CMA Awards, and is current sitting at #2 on Billboard’s Country Albums chart ahead of much newer albums from folks like Keith Urban and Dierks Bentley, and debuts from Brandy Clark and Frankie Ballard. The Platinum certification for “Tennessee Whiskey” was actually handed out in May, but went unreported until his label UMG Nashville sent out a congratulatory Tweet on Tuesday (6-21).
“Tennessee Whiskey” was only one of two songs from Traveller that Chris Stapleton didn’t write or co-write.
WestTexasRain
June 22, 2016 @ 9:09 am
Ok I don’t have to much knowledge of the charts. I know about album certifications but what’s with the single going platinum? Does that mean it sold a million copies?
Charlie woods
June 22, 2016 @ 10:24 am
Yes gold is 500k and platinum is a million. It’s rare and probably won’t happen again but diamond is ten million. It has to be certified by the riaa though and the label/artist pays a small fee for the certification.
WestTexasRain
June 22, 2016 @ 10:28 am
So that’s for a downloaded single?
Convict charlie
June 22, 2016 @ 10:42 am
Yes. It’s the same number for singles/album so/ep’s etc. Only change i believe trigger can comment on is like a double album. only get credit from a full sale as 1/2 on each unit- a gold album at that certification is 250k sales.
luckyoldsun
June 22, 2016 @ 4:27 pm
I still don’t know what it means.
Do they count people who listen to/watch it on Youtube or some other such place?
How many songs “go platinum” in a year, nowadays–
(approx.)?
Convict charlie
June 23, 2016 @ 6:16 am
certifiable sales are usually the biggest factor for the designation. Actual purchase from a retailer or iTunes etc. Pretty sure recently the streaming sights do count toward the designation. 1,500 streams equal one pure album sale.
albert
June 22, 2016 @ 10:17 am
….” debunking the myth that modern consumers don’t want to hear old country music, and putting the power of country radio into question”….
Exactly Trigger . Its overwhelmingly obvious that there’s a market for REAL traditional country music when there’s heart in the song and a sincere performance involved . I’m as happy for the writers ( as you mentioned ) as I am for CS . Hopefully it will keep trad writers and performers encouraged and inspired .
Stringbuzz
June 22, 2016 @ 10:19 am
What kills me is this isn’t even the best version of this song I’ve heard.
He really needs to thank Timberlake.
Jim Bob
June 22, 2016 @ 10:51 am
I’ve thought that this whole time, too. I mean, a win for country’s a win for country and I’ll take it every day of the week and twice on Sunday. I’m just saying..
albert
June 22, 2016 @ 11:37 am
Timing is a factor . People , I believe , are hungry for something REAL . CS and the performance with Timberlake are huge factors of course . This probably wouldn’t have worked for a Dierks or a Keith . But initially there’s a lyric there that people responded to with each release when its done with heart .
” I don’t have hits , I have STANDARDS ” . THAT song sums it up
Jimmy Adams
June 23, 2016 @ 6:36 am
Timberlake had no business being on the same stage as Chris stapleton.this is one of the greatest songwriter ever.and absolutely the most powerful voice ever.he don’t fit the pretty boy mold like Aldean and Bryan,so he don’t get radio and video airplay.Timberlake should have been embarrassed to try and share the stage with chris
Acca Dacca
June 23, 2016 @ 8:19 pm
Like hell. I’ve had his version of the song on repeat since the album was released last year, well before the CMAs performance. Everyone I played the song for at the time loved Chris’ version like it was the original. If THIS was the one that was released 35 years ago, you wouldn’t have anything to say. And the studio version features nary an ex-*NSYNC member in sight.
Cosmic Cowboy
June 22, 2016 @ 11:13 am
Congrats to Chris for the award but to be honest the Coe version is the best version even over Jones.
Bertox
June 23, 2016 @ 5:53 pm
Coe’s version has always been my favorite as well
Derek Sullivan
June 22, 2016 @ 3:08 pm
My work just gave me two free tickets to his sold-out show on July 1 in Iowa. Feeling pretty blessed.
BwareDWare94
June 22, 2016 @ 3:54 pm
This is good for country music, but I skip Tennessee Whiskey when I listen to Traveller. I mean, it’s fun to hear the vocal acrobatics at the word “warm,” but I’ve heard it so many times, now.
Fuzzy TwoShirts
June 22, 2016 @ 6:28 pm
I LOOOOVE to hear him hit that part!
folks who can bend notes like that are few and far between…
In fact, only “Country” singer I’ve ever heard who can bend notes like that (unless you count Elvis) is Ol Possum himself… I’ll never cease to be amazed at the bends he gets on the words “slipping” and “edge of” on “Bartender’s Blues.”
of course Elvis could do it, but he maybe wasn’t a true “Country Singer” in the same sense…
I know everybody hates on CS’ version for not being the same as the Coe or Jones version, but I think their recordings are kind of bland, by comparison… The emotions are real, and Jones put more soul into a song than anybody ever not named Johnny Cash or Colm Wilkinson, but the melody gets to droning a little bit… the CS performance is really refreshing in the sense that it separates itself from the others…
But after getting used to CS, it’s nice to go back to Jones…
truth5
June 23, 2016 @ 6:03 am
Since the timberlake/stapleton duet, I’ve heard at least 10 rock/pop/party bands cover Tennessee Whiskey in the same bluesy way. The performance was good, but just not the way I prefer to hear it. Jones version on his live album “first time live” is the best version. Just a smooth singer getting all of the soul and emotion out of the words, without oversinging the song. As you alluded, Jones had every tool at his disposal as a singer (phrasing, range, bends, clips, stretching words, etc) however he only used them to enhance the song or get that extra bit of emotion. As far as soul and emotion for a country singer, Jones is in a class of his own. No offense to Coe, but Coe isn’t even in the same category of vocals as Jones.
BwareDWare94
June 23, 2016 @ 10:44 am
I don’t know what you’d call it, but I love the tone Jones’ voice hit when he’d go into a crescendo. It’d change entirely and carry the weight of the song in a few short lines.
Matt M.
June 24, 2016 @ 9:58 pm
I once heard of a musician who performed “Tennessee Whiskey” in a bar on Lower Broadway and got yelled at by some lady for not “playing it the way Chris Stapleton wrote it”.
Acca Dacca
June 23, 2016 @ 8:20 pm
Vince Gill? Marty Robbins? They couldn’t bend notes?
Lone Wolf
June 22, 2016 @ 4:42 pm
Couldn’t have happened to a more talented artist. Chris Stapleton deserves all the handshakes, high fives, kudos and accolades he’s getting.
ElectricOutcast
June 22, 2016 @ 5:21 pm
I gotta confess, they still have clips of the CMA performance on Youtube and I can never get tired of watching the thing because it was such an epic moment.
Trigger
June 22, 2016 @ 8:43 pm
No matter where you stand on that performance, Chris Stapleton, Justin Timberlake, Stapleton’s take on “Tennessee Whiskey,” or any of it, that moment on the 2015 CMA Awards will go down as one of the most significant moments in country music history.
Sylvie
June 22, 2016 @ 5:32 pm
When I hear or read that REAL country music does not have any fans anymore…
This is a major proof to non REAL country music believers that REAL country music STILL exists and STILL have fans !
MANY MANY FANS !
i’m so so so happy for Chris !
Pickle
June 23, 2016 @ 12:03 pm
So when will radio get there heads out of there asses and stop pushing garbage at us.
RD
June 23, 2016 @ 3:09 pm
I like the Stapleton album, but there are several other songs on that album that are way better than his version of Tennessee Whiskey. Of course Coe and the Possum’s versions of Tennessee Whiskey kick the shit out of Stapleton’s…
Acca Dacca
June 23, 2016 @ 8:23 pm
For whatever reason, I find it odd that you’re so down on Chris’ swingy version that your phrase it as the other two “kicking the shit out of” it. I suppose it’s what you hear first that forms what you expect out of a song. I like that Chris was able to take a classic and turn it into a NEW classic, and that talent is rare to say the least.