Tyler Childers, Jason Isbell Earn New Gold & Platinum Singles
Artists that sit decidedly outside of the mainstream country fold and enjoy little to no attention from commercial radio continue to rack up precious metal, speaking to the gobbling up of market share by independent artists. A feat once thought impossible without the support of radio is now becoming a more regular occurrence, and for a widening group of performers.
Made official of February 18th, two Tyler Childers singles have graduated from Certified Gold, to Certified Platinum by the RIAA for sales and streaming equivalents of 1 million units. Tyler’s songs “Lady May” and “Whitehouse Road” from his 2017 album Purgatory join his singles “Feathered Indians” and “All Your’n” in the Platinum class. That’s right, Tyler Childers now had four platinum singles, three of which are from the album Purgatory, which itself was Certified Gold on December 8th, 2020, and is likely to go Platinum itself sooner than later.
The certifications come as Purgatory continues to be one of the most popular titles in all of country music, despite now being nearly half a decade old. Throughout 2022, Purgatory has regularly landed in the Billboard Country Albums chart Top 10, while receiving regular weekly totals of over 8 million streams, along with continued strong physical sales and downloads. In short, Tyler Childers is one of the most popular artists in all of country music at the moment, thanks to the continued strength of Purgatory.
Now joining Tyler Childers, Cody Jinks, Whiskey Myers, Sturgill Simpson, and a select few others as modern independent artists with RIAA Certified songs is Jason Isbell. Also announced on February 18th, his signature song “Cover Me Up” has officially gone Gold. The opening song of what many consider to be his master work, 2013’s Southeastern, “Cover Me Up” has become a standard in both country and Americana over the last few years.
Though the momentum behind Jason Isbell’s original version was quite strong on its own, the song has been covered by multiple mainstream country stars, helping to raise its profile. Zac Brown covered the song in 2017 for a Spotify live version that has since received some 14.5 million plays. Rodney Atkins covered the song on his 2019 album Caught Up In The Country. And then Morgan Wallen covered the song for his commercial powerhouse album Dangerous: The Double Album from 2021.
Warren Zeiders, Randy Matthews, and others have officially covered the song in recorded versions as well. Morgan Wallen’s version was Certified Double Platinum just a few months ago, on November 23rd, 2021. In the wake of Morgan Wallen’s N-word controversy, Isbell donated portions of his song royalties from the Wallen version to the NAACP.
Along with Jason Isbell’s native fans, enough people found favor in the song to seek out the original version of “Cover Me Up” for it now to join other independent singles in the RIAA certification department.
The continued success of independent singles proves that there is a path forward for country artists without the crutch of radio, at least for the right song from the right artist, of which these newly-minted singles most certainly were.
February 21, 2022 @ 4:57 am
Rodney Adkins. Not Rhett. And his cover is awful.
February 21, 2022 @ 6:14 am
I’ve mentioned this before but I am surprised Blackberry Smoke doesn’t have any certified platinum songs. One Horse Town and Ain’t Much Left of Me have to be gold cert or pretty close.
Everyone I have introduced to Childers, Sturgill, Isbell and Turnpike have become fans.
February 21, 2022 @ 9:29 am
They don’t have any Gold singles yet, but they will always hold the distinction of being the very first independent band to have a #1 album on the Billboard Country Albums charts in the modern era with “Holding All The Roses” in 2015.
February 21, 2022 @ 7:43 am
IMHO, the casual country music listeners gravitate towards whatever mainstream is. However, the country music aficionados seem to go more with these independents. And it appears they are growing in number. That is a good thing. Sure are a lot more choices today than 10 years ago. This ain’t going away folks.
February 21, 2022 @ 9:16 am
Question for you Trigger or someone who knows such things-are revenues streaming or sales of a single different, negotiated by individual artists or their companies and if known what are the actual dollar or pennies paid?
Someone in the music biz or associated with artists receiving our shekels educate us if possible.
February 21, 2022 @ 9:34 am
I don’t know the specific amount Tyler Childers and Jason Isbell make on specific sales or streams. But what I can tell you is that all of the songs that just received new Certifications highlighted above were released on Thirty Tigers, which only takes a 10% cut of revenue, which is much lower than the majors. Thirty Tigers money on the volume of albums they release. Thirty Tigers also allows artists to own their own masters, and they basically operate their own record labels through the company. In other words, Tyler and Isbell will personally make disproportionately more money off of these singles than their major label counterparts.
February 21, 2022 @ 9:43 am
I hope Tyler’s next record is all trucker songs.
February 21, 2022 @ 10:39 am
Oh, you bad, Corncaster …
Mucho Kudos
February 22, 2022 @ 2:10 pm
I want a whole album of Tyler covering Franklin County Trucking Company songs
February 21, 2022 @ 11:33 am
“Lady May” is a killer song.
Put out good material and people will buy it.
It isn’t hard, Nashville.
February 21, 2022 @ 4:05 pm
Childers, Jinks, Whiskey Myers, Sturgill and Isbell…. All gold. All deserving. That’s the damn Mt. Rushmore right there. Awesome news. Couldn’t be happier for these artists and it does prove to those musicians out there that are keeping it real and not writing songs just to get on the radio that success will come. These artists have shown the way. So cool to hear this.
February 21, 2022 @ 4:41 pm
I use Spotify. Can’t stand to listen to a million commercials , and then a song I’m tired of.
February 21, 2022 @ 6:36 pm
Wow with all of the attention gets, it’s shocking Isbell doesn’t have a platinum single.
February 21, 2022 @ 6:50 pm
Good music 🎶
February 22, 2022 @ 9:37 am
Tammy Chiggers is wet
February 22, 2022 @ 10:34 am
Isbell = Liberal garbage.
February 22, 2022 @ 12:30 pm
GOTdammit!, CG, so fucking what?
Sorry Trig, had a “here we go again” moment. If I had written Cover Me Up and Jason had a feather up his ass, we’d both be tickled.
February 23, 2022 @ 5:35 am
So why don’t you tell him to just play music and keep his America hating liberal mouth shut.
February 23, 2022 @ 6:43 am
I’ve got nuthin’. You win. ……{checks calendar} …….time for me to re-read that 1st amendment thingy ……..
February 24, 2022 @ 11:07 am
Funny how people who accuse others of “America hating” so rarely have even a basic understanding of the Constitution.
Don’t worry CG, I’ll stream him twice as much and get him credit for both of us.
February 24, 2022 @ 5:31 pm
Another idiot that doesn’t understand that the 1st amendment allows him to say whatever he wants. The 1st amendment also allows me to calling him what he is. He is America hating garbage.
February 25, 2022 @ 5:26 am
Between isbell and you…you win the hate crown. Patriotism is Love of country and wanting it to be the best and freest it can be for ALL it’s people. What you have..thinking your country is perfect and better than all the rest is called NATIONALISM …as in what Germany, Japan and Italy believed in WWIi. If our forebears we’re as afraid of criticism and change as you are, they wouldn’t have made sure of free speech and put in the other mechanisms of change. Stop listening to talking heads and international gazillionaies and go read real history at say, the Library,. Start with what kids in the 40s and 50s were reading, a magazine that was based on the original historical documents and newspapers from the 1700s.and 1800s and on. It was called American Heritage. I heard that a gazillionaire from somewhere bought it recently, so start with the old stuff and learn something about the country you claim to love. We’ve done great good and we’ve also done great bad, and our strength is our ability to learn and grow and change for the better. Just as you would want for those you love.
February 25, 2022 @ 8:54 am
First off you know nothing of me and what I have done for this country. It has nothing to do with hate. If people like Isbell and the rest of the liberals have it their way you will not have a country. People like you don’t understand. You can’t ever have peace without being capable of great violence. As for our forbears yes they gave us the right to free speech followed secondly by the 2nd amendment that Isbell and the rest of the liberals hate. You can’t have free speech without protecting it. Who said I was afraid of change? Oh yeah. Nobody but you. I bet you will call me a racist next.
February 25, 2022 @ 6:23 pm
and you know nothing about “people like me”. You appear to believe what the gun industry has been telling you since they took over the NRA…but that is besides the point, really…the discussion didn’t mention guns. We own guns. My husband hunts. The NRA used to be FOR rational regulation and training in the proper use of guns. Before it was kidnapped. But guns were not in the initial discussion which was you going off at the slightest praise for someone you deem too liberal. Since you lump people together as “you liberals” and assign us your version of our beliefs, I do know this about you. You don’t do your own research and you have too narrow informational input. You might end up with the same views you have now, but you would have something real to draw on in an argument instead of talking head name calling. I grew up with a conservative dad and a very liberal mom…never once did they disparage each other or call names. We had some great arguments and learned a lot from each other. one of the things i learned was to do my research before i took on either of them. I’m just recommending it..
February 26, 2022 @ 8:41 am
First off you obviously know nothing of what the 2nd amendment was intended for. It has nothing to do with hunting. The gun industry has told me nothing. The NRA has traded away 2A rights for years. What part of “Shall not be infringed” do you not understand. I do plenty of research. You have the right to say and do whatever you want. Thanks to guys like me and many more before me that served. Let me say it again. YOU LIBERALS. If you don’t like it. Tough shit. I won’t give an in to you or any other woke creep.
February 26, 2022 @ 8:49 am
CG,
Not sure who you are trying to reply to, but please appreciate this is a country music website, and these comment sections are meant to discuss music. Veering into divisive political subjects and name calling not only never results in anyone changing their minds, it bogs these comments sections down, and discourages others from commenting, or reading them. Everyone needs to respect the fact that people come here to get away from political divisiveness. I understand that Jason Isbell has been politically divisive in the past, and that certain subjects have political ties to them. But this one doesn’t. So please, make sure your comments henceforth center around music, not politics. Thanks.
February 26, 2022 @ 9:01 am
So Janie doesn’t get the same sermon?
February 26, 2022 @ 9:28 am
The sermon is for everyone.
February 26, 2022 @ 10:16 am
So why just call me out?
February 26, 2022 @ 6:07 pm
Others have been called out, constantly, incessantly. It’s an ongoing battle trying to keep these comments sections free from political discord, and that goes for everyone. I appreciate people are passionate about these topics, but many people come here to get away from the divisiveness and focus on the music. I appreciate everyone’s understanding at this request.
February 27, 2022 @ 1:09 pm
What the hell are you talking about? Jason Isbell is a singer not a politician!