Taylor Swift’s ‘Shake It Off’ Earns RIAA Diamond Certification
Along with ‘Shake It Off’, the RIAA also a 2x platinum certification for her most recent album, Lover, and a 4x platinum certification for 1989 single ‘Wildest Dreams’.
Taylor Swift has a seemingly innumerable collection of hits, but ‘Shake It Off’ remains one of her most popular. On Friday, her 2014 single received a diamond certification from the RIAA, a milestone that few artists achieve.
With diamond certification, ‘Shake It Off’ has exceeded over 10 million units in sales and streaming revenue in the US alone. ‘Shake It Off’ is the first of Swift’s singles to reach diamond certification, and her second diamond certification overall behind her 2008 sophomore album, Fearless.
According to Chart Data, this latest achievement makes Swift the first female artist in US history to have both a diamond-certified single and album.
‘Shake It Off’ was the lead single off Swift’s critically acclaimed album 1989 and debuted at No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100. With 1989, Swift completed the transformation from country singer-songwriter to global pop sensation. 1989 also featured two more No.1 singles, including ‘Blank Space’ and ‘Bad Blood’, which are certified 8x platinum and 6x platinum by the RIAA, respectively.
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In a 2014 interview with Billboard, Swift explained her inspiration behind writing the smash hit.
“That song is essentially written about an important lesson I learned that really changed how I live my life and how I look at my life. I really wanted it to be a song that made people want to get up and dance at a wedding reception from the first drum beat. But I also wanted it to be a song that could help someone get through something really terrible, if they wanted to focus on the emotional profile, on the lyrics.”
The music video for ‘Shake It Off’ was also a smash, earning more than 2.8 billion YouTube views to date. A celebration of all forms of dance, the video saw Swift dance along with Swan Lake ballerinas, breakdancers and twerking back-up dancers, as she brushed off her detractors.
Later, the multi-platinum pop star performed ‘Shake It Off’ as part of career-spanning medley of hits at the American Music Awards, where she received the Artist of the Decade Award. She also won in five other categories for a total of 29 career wins, making her the most-awarded artist in the show’s history.
Along with ‘Shake It Off’, the RIAA also a 2x platinum certification for her most recent album, Lover, and a 4x platinum certification for 1989 single ‘Wildest Dreams’.
Listen to the best of Taylor Swift on Apple Music and Spotify.
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