Kanye West's 'DONDA' goes platinum
Kanye West‘s album, ‘DONDA‘, has been certified platinum by the RIAA, with over one million equivalent album sales since its release in August 2021.
Ye’s album was released last year after multiple delays and several changes to the album itself. The progress of the album was charted through several listening parties, where West would make changes to it following each one.
In a three-star review, NME described ‘DONDA’ as “incredibly – and unnecessarily – long”. It is his ninth solo studio album to reach the platinum mark, with only 2019’s ‘Jesus Is King‘ and the recently released ‘DONDA 2‘ not having yet reached one million.
‘DONDA 2’ – a direct follow-up to ‘DONDA’ – was available exclusively via his bespoke Stem Player platform and unique to the $200 (£150) device made by the rapper’s Yeezy Tech enterprise.
Four songs from the record – ‘Security’, ‘Pablo’, ‘Broken Road’ and ‘We Did It Kid’ – were made available to Stem Player owners on February 23, following a listening party and live performance in Miami the night prior. Four more songs followed the next day, then a further 12 more songs on February 25.
Following the release, West said he had made over $2.2million (£1.6m) in Stem Player sales in the 24 hours after his announcement that it would be the only way to listen to ‘Donda 2’.
US Certifications (@RIAA): @kanyewest, DONDA Platinum (1,000,000).
— chart data (@chartdata) March 11, 2022
He wrote on Instagram at the time: “Some say I’m the only one who can make this change. So as the leading innovator in music of the past 20 years. I’m putting my own work on the line to change it. I’ve already won by not being afraid to move. Now we’re winning because there are true supporters that have invested their hard earned money in my vision of freedom.”
Despite its popularity, ‘DONDA 2’ has been ruled ineligible for inclusion in the Billboard charts because it violates Billboard’s merchandise bundle policy. As per an article in Billboard, albums sold with merchandise are ineligible for inclusion.
In other news, West and The Game shared a second video for their recent joint single, ‘Eazy’, which – like the first video the pair released earlier this month – sees Pete Davidson meet a violent demise.
In the video, an animated version of the skinned monkey from the ‘Eazy’ single’s cover art attacks Davidson, who is currently involved with West’s ex-wife, Kim Kardashian. He deals a string of punches over West’s lyric, “God saved me from that crash / Just so I can beat Pete Davidson’s ass.”
The first video for ‘Eazy’ earned widespread criticism for its portrayal of violence against Davidson, with multiple celebrities coming to his defence.
West addressed the backlash he’d received, writing in an Instagram post that “art is not a proxy for any ill or harm”, and that “any suggestion otherwise about my art is false and mal intended”.
