Country superstar Luke Combs’ smash hit “Beautiful Crazy” becomes the sixth country song in history to be certified Diamond by the RIAA.
Sony Music Nashville kicked off CMA Fest by presenting Luke Combs, the reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year, and songwriter Rob Williford with a plaque commemorating Combs’ single “Beautiful Crazy” being certified Diamond by the RIAA. The track is only the sixth country song in RIAA history to achieve over 10 million copies sold.
The plaque was presented on Thursday, June 8, at Combs’ CMA Fest Bootleggers Fan Club Party. Notable Sony Music Nashville personnel pictured along with Combs and Rob Williford include Caryl Atwood (SVP, Commercial Partnerships), Ken Robold (EVP & COO), Steve Hodges (EVP, Promotion & Artist Development), Taylor Lindsey (SVP, A&R), Randy Goodman (Chairman & CEO), and Liz Cost (VP, Marketing).
While the feat is no doubt impressive, it should come as no surprise that Luke Combs was capable of achieving it. The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) revealed the top songwriters for Q1 this year are overwhelmingly country-oriented, thanks mainly to the success of Luke Combs.
Luke Combs claimed the top artist-songwriter credit with 26 certifications, including “Beautiful Crazy” with 9x Multi-Platinum, “Hurricane” with 8x Multi-Platinum, and the 4x Multi-Platinum “Forever After All.” Big Machine published these hits, though Universal Music Publishing Group now serves as Combs’ publisher.
“Man, kind of speechless, to be honest,” says Combs of his top songwriter honor. “All of the credit goes to my fans. They buy and stream the songs and albums, so none of this happens without them. This is honestly an award that should have their names on it. Huge thank you to them and everyone else who made this happen.”
The top non-performing songwriter in Q1 was Ray Fulcher, who earned 12 certifications for songs like “Does to Me,” “Reasons,” and “When It Rains It Pours,” which are published by Sony Music Publishing. Ray Fulcher is published through UMPG and River House/Sony Music Publishing.