What It Means for a Hip Hop Album to Go Diamond
A diamond certification from the RIAA means an album has moved 10 million units in the United States, combining pure sales and on-demand audio or video streams. The RIAA awards this status only after a label submits verified sales and streaming data, and the threshold is the highest in its certification program. For hip hop, reaching diamond signals mainstream dominance and long-term catalog value, often placing those records among the highest-grossing releases in the genre. You can see the full certification criteria on the RIAA website