Twenty One Pilots' album strikes gold

NEW YORK • Twenty One Pilots' latest album has set a record for their ultra-high-flying sales.

Every song on the pop-rap duo's last album, Blurryface, has been certified gold or platinum.

The Ohio musicians, who blend hip-hop with light rock, scored their biggest success yet with the 2015 album, especially with the number Stressed Out, a nostalgic song about yearning for childhood stability.

The Recording Industry Association of America said on Thursday that all 14 songs on Blurryface had been certified gold, which means sales of 500,000 in the United States, or platinum, which is one million.

The feat was believed to be the first ever.

The industry group added that it verified that no other album had all songs certified gold or platinum at least since the start of the digital music era, when comparable data became available.

Since 2016, the association has been factoring streaming into its sales data, giving an added boost to songs that may have been overlooked in earlier times as obscurities heard only by fans who bought the album.

Streaming and digital downloading platforms such as iTunes allow listeners to choose any song instantly, not just the singles which labels pick to promote.

Blurryface as an album has been certified three-time multi-platinum, meaning it sold three million copies.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on March 03, 2018, with the headline Twenty One Pilots' album strikes gold. Subscribe