As the years roll on, it only looms larger over the landscape of rap, R&B, and the whole of mainstream pop. We can debate in circles about how original 808s really was and whether it’s a work of genius, but there’s really no argument against its status as one of the most important albums in music history.
Dissenters occasionally push back against that narrative, dismissing it as a byproduct of Kanye’s self-mythology, but they’re fighting a losing battle. And if you’ve followed critical discussions about rap during that time period, you’ve probably noticed the prevailing theory that 808s changed everything. If you’ve followed the development of rap music over the past decade, you’ve undoubtedly heard the influence of 808s & Heartbreak, the album Kanye released 10 years ago this Saturday. In addition, the United States streams and sales from other tracks on the album will be bundled into the hypothetical new certification.Īlthough not all streaming data is presently public for this release, it’s likely that ‘808s & Heartbreak’ has either already crossed or is close to crossing the 3x Platinum threshold.Here it is: the pivot point in Kanye West’s career and maybe recent hip-hop history at large. Lead single “Love Lockdown” currently stands at 3x Platinum, but hasn’t been certified since 2010 (before RIAA added streams to album and single totals) while “Amazing” is Platinum. However, two of the tracks that are contributing to that sum of 10m single units could be due for upgrades of their own. Using the ratio of 10 single units to 1 album sale, the album has notched up over 1m units from single equivalents and at least 2.9 million total RIAA units. With 10 million in RIAA certified units for its singles, ‘808s & Heartbreak’ could be up for a 3x Platinum certification through the RIAA. Kanye Wests’s 2008 album, which produced the hits “Love Lockdown” and “Heartless”, has officially surpassed 1.9 million in pure sales in the United States.
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