Tyler Childers Breaks Another Barrier with 2X Platinum Certification
The paradigm continues to shift, and the possibilities for country artists without the support of mainstream radio and major awards continues to increase with the continued success of Tyler Childers, and specifically the songs from his 2017 album Purgatory.
Previously we had always believed that RIAA Certified Gold and Platinum singles and albums were only within the purview of mainstream country stars. Tyler Childers was the first to upstage this order when his song “Feathered Indians” was Certified Gold for achieving 500,000 in sales, downloads, and streaming equivalents on February 21st, 2020.
This would open the floodgates for a rash of independent artists to begin accruing precious metal, with Cody Jinks, Whiskey Myers, and later Sturgill Simpson and Jason Isbell also receiving Gold certifications. Cody Jinks upped the ante when his song “Loud and Heavy” was the first to be Certified Platinum for 1 million in sales, downloads, and streaming equivalents in September of 2020. Jinks now has two more Gold certs on top of that for the song “Hippies and Cowboys” and the album Adobe Sessions.
But Tyler Childers has just outdone them all with the song that started it all. What now has to be considered his signature song, “Feathered Indians,” has officially gone DOUBLE PLATINUM, with certified sales, streaming equivalents, and downloads surpassing 2 million. It officially received the distinction on May 26th.
This joins Tyler’s Platinum Certified singles “Lady May,” “Whitehouse Road,” and “All Your’n,” along with a Gold certification for the album Purgatory. This all comes as the album continues to be one of the hottest titles in all of country music, receiving some 7 millions streams weekly, and regularly showing up in the Top 15 on the Billboard Country Albums chart.
The Avett Brothers, The Josh Abbott Band, and even Wheeler Walker Jr. have all now also minted Certified Gold singles, speaking to the breadth of this phenomenon.
Gone are the days of worrying if the gatekeepers at country radio will play your single. Tyler Childers and others have proven, and with certified numbers, there is a better and healthier alternative. And as time goes on, the amount of RIAA certs for Tyler Childers and others will only continue to grow, verifying what independent country fans have known for years: just give these artists an opportunity, and they will thrive.
June 1, 2022 @ 12:25 pm
Amazing times we are living in right now. The choices we have and the accesses to music due to technology and social media has really opened up the field. Real country music isn’t excluded to the remote mountains of Appalachia or the desolate red dirt roads of Texas. I never thought I’d see this day.
June 1, 2022 @ 7:36 pm
Nyc here that is incredibly grateful to have access to all the incredible country music!!
June 1, 2022 @ 8:37 pm
Just be good. We’ll find you.
June 2, 2022 @ 7:38 am
Just keep supporting these guys/girls. Remember watching Tyler at Willie’s Locally Known in Lexington with about 9 other people in the room in total. Give them an ear and your support.
June 2, 2022 @ 12:57 pm
Back in the 90’s, as I was graduating HS and such, I would go to the record store and look for country music artists that had cool band names-figured had to be talented to come up with cool name. Before the days you could preview (unless the tape was open) you had to guess. Country radio lost me at Boot Scootin’ Boogie and crap like that (Garth leading the way); I longed for bands and sounds like Foster and Lloyd. Anyway, started buying stuff like Jack Ingram and the Beat-Up Ford Band, Chris LeDoux, Bob Woodruff and realized that I was into Red Dirt before it was called it and before it went more mainstream.
June 2, 2022 @ 5:45 pm
I have a question. Are jukeboxes counted? These days it’s like a buck a song. A few of the local bars have Tyler on all the time
July 10, 2022 @ 3:37 pm
“certified sales, streaming equivalents, and downloads” What are streaming equivalents? I can stream a song for free, just like hearing it on the radio. Are there separate charts that just track actual sales of a song or album?
July 10, 2022 @ 3:41 pm
No song is streamed for free. Even on YouTube or a free subscription through a streaming service, ad revenue is generated with the play.
There is a specific album sales chart populated each week through Billboard. But with the vast, vast majority of music consumption happening now through streaming, this is how these charts are measuring the performance of an album.
July 10, 2022 @ 8:16 pm
I just think there is a big difference between checking out a song on Spotify or on the radio as opposed to actually shelling out money to buy a physical copy or for a download.
July 10, 2022 @ 9:00 pm
That is why downloads and sales are weighted significantly higher on these album charts than streams are. They also factor in how the stream occurred. For example, if a user pulls up a specific artist and listens, it weighs heavier than if someone listens to a song on a playlist, or a song plays after an album is finished.
I completely agree with you that the whole streaming thing has turned the charting world upside down for albums. But I also think that streaming is here to stay and a very strong element to the music market. What I tell folks is to buy the physical product of your favorite albums and artists to support them. But when you’re in the car, in the gym working out, etc., stream it too. This metadata is important to letting streaming networks and the industry know these artists are being actively listened to.