The RIAA has already given Rihanna’s “ANTI” platinum certification.
Two days after its (accidental) release, Rihanna’s new album, ANTI, has been certified platinum.
On January 27, The album leaked on TIDAL for a short time, and soon after, it was made available for free download for TIDAL subscribers. It should be noted that ANTI didn’t take the traditional route to achieving its platinum status. Samsung, the company with which Rihanna signed a $25 million deal last October, bought 1 million copies of the album before its release, and those albums were soon given away as free downloads.
In any case, the RIAA has already declared the album platinum.Complex notes that a similar situation took place in July 2013, when Jay Z‘s Magna Carta Holy Grail went platinum on its first day of release — because Samsung had already bought 1 million copies.
So, the certification doesn’t seem totally legit. ANTI was reportedly streamed over 13 million times in 14 hours, though, which is certainly impressive.
Congratulations to @Rihanna! #ANTI is officially #RIAAPlatinum. @RocNation @TIDALHiFi pic.twitter.com/Dg6c6vDLmz
— RIAA (@RIAA) January 29, 2016
Congratulations @Rihanna, #ANTI is now certified #RIAAPlatinum!
Download from @TIDALHiFi: https://t.co/eT0grLC7vp pic.twitter.com/jyGAB7ENys— Roc Nation (@RocNation) January 29, 2016
