Not hip hop..but How are songs like “smells like teen spirit” by nirvana only 1x platinum in the US?

[Lil Bape the PostGod]

Honestly might be one of the most recognizable and known songs of all time across all genres ..it peaked at #6 on the charts for one week

were people not buying singles like that in the early 90s? ..it’s listed as 1x platinum (the album went diamond)....why were labels releasing singles if people were only buying full albums?

I believe the song “thriller” by MJ was only 2x platinum too..it’s 6x platinum digitally now or some shyt

 

[OfTheCross]

 

[tremonthustler1]

The single was a vehicle to buy the album. If you liked the single enough, it was for you to then purchase the album and listen to the rest. Back in the day, singles had B sides that either had album cuts, instrumentals or remixes depending on the track . Nevermind sold over 30 mil worldwide. I'm sure they'll take that over the success of a single.

We were conditioned to check for the whole project. Now we pick and choose what we care for.

 

[Dynamite James]

I guess they just bought the album

 

[NSSVO]

Singles weren't a major thing. It is now due to the change of the music industry.

 

[InGodWeTrust]

Its not hiphop you idiot.

We all don’t like fakkit rock. You’re on a hip hop board fool.

 

[Baka's Weird Case]

cause people bought the album

nevermind went diamond

Gold & Platinum - RIAA

 

[Tom Foolery]

Only Platinum? How much were you expecting?

 

[Ziggiy]

There was no streaming back then. If you liked the single then you brought the album. Which is i’m quite sure the ALBUM sold more than 1X Platinum.


Never gave a flying fukk about Nirvana or that song so i’m sure somebody else can give a deeper answer regarding the band’s popularity

 

[L&HH]

If you look in the 90's and early 2000's when music sales were at its peak there weren't that many high selling singles. Once the CD became a thing and you can fit a shyt ton of music on the disc it wasn't worth it to purchase "singles" you'd rather just buy an album.

No songs from the early 2000's on this list and the only songs from the 90's on it were international songs and one Britney Spears song yet music sales were at its peak at like 20 billion in the late 90's and 2000.
List of best-selling singles - Wikipedia

 

[TripleAgent]

Also not mentioned, the label or artist has to pay and apply for recertification. They may have not bothered. A lot of huge artists may have gone Plat more times than we know.

For example, Get Rich Or Die Trying may have gone Plat again since however long ago they got it certified. If you don't pay the RIAA to count it up, it just sits there.

 

[tremonthustler1]

There was no streaming back then. If you liked the single then you brought the album. Which is i’m quite sure the ALBUM sold more than 1X Platinum.


Never gave a flying fukk about Nirvana or that song so i’m sure somebody else can give a deeper answer regarding the band’s popularity

You don't have to.

Put it this way: you see how disenchanted you are with rap and you wanna hear something that changes EVERYTHING? When Smells Like Teen Spirit dropped, that was the song that a new generation of fans (especially rock of course) got behind, and when MTV started playing it heavy, everyone else followed and they went from small time band to the group that knocked off Michael Jackson from #1. It killed hair bands off. It made everyone dress differently. Groups that came after them from the same city blew up with the same style. It changed how people wrote songs. When that shyt blew up, it made everyone go "ok we're doing this now."


A rap equivalent would be Straight Outta Compton, or Nuthin But A G Thing, something that made everyone drop what they were doing and switch everything up.


The closest thing rap has had to that recently (and it hasn't been nearly as successful but made big time waves in hip-hop) was Don't Like because everyone wanted to jack that drill sound upon hearing it.

You can argue that we'll never see popular music shift off one song the way it did with that.

 

[Tony D'Amato]

This is one of those rock songs u read the lyrics to and you like who wrote this bullshyt

But it sounds good

 

[get these nets]

Honestly might be one of the most recognizable and known songs of all time across all genres ..it peaked at #6 on the charts for one week

were people not buying singles like that in the early 90s? ..it’s listed as 1x platinum (the album went diamond)....why were labels releasing singles if people were only buying full albums?

I believe the song “thriller” by MJ was only 2x platinum too..it’s 6x platinum digitally now or some shyt

I'm surprised by the sales number for the single also. That was a MONSTER hit that made "grunge" the new wave and made that region's music scene a hot spot.

There were huge selling singles before and during that period from popular acts. I'd have guessed this single sold 3 million, in addition to what the album sold.

 

[daze23]

in 1991 12" vinyl singles were pretty much strictly for DJ's

there were CD and cassette singles, but they weren't really a good value since they were usually around half the price of the whole album, for 1-2 songs. only time I usually copped singles was when the single came out before the album. but I sure stole a lot of cassette singles since they usually didn't have a security case on them

in hip hop some singles were dope cause they would come with multiple remixes plus the instrumentals