American singer and actress Madonna filming the video for her song ‘Papa Don’t Preach’ in New York … [+]
Madonna has been charting hits for decades now, and her career started when it was tougher for artists to rise the ranks and earn gold and platinum honors for their songs and albums. These days, accruing those wins is easier, thanks to streaming activity, but Madonna was there when those awards meant even more than they do now.
Even after so many years, some of Madonna’s biggest and most familiar hits are still only just beginning their journeys when it comes to being certified gold, platinum, and beyond. As Americans continue to listen to her smashes, more tunes by the singer will keep adding to her career wins—which is exactly what’s happened once again.
Madonna’s “Papa Don’t Preach” has been certified platinum for the first time. The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) bestowed the award upon the single, helping it advance from gold status, as it has now shifted at least one million equivalent units throughout the U.S., between sales and streams.
“Papa Don’t Preach” was certified gold in October 1998, more than a quarter-century ago. In America, tunes are deemed gold wins once they’ve moved half a million copies. Back in the ‘90s, the only way for a tune to earn that many units was via sales.
Now, streams play into an album or single’s cumulative consumption totals. That fact helps newer acts rack up these impressive wins, and it also allows older musicians and their works to continue to collect honors from the RIAA, after sales have likely all but disappeared.
“Papa Don’t Preach” is one of Madonna’s seven platinum singles. That’s a fairly low number for someone as famous as she is, but again, most of her smashes were released during a time when it was far more difficult for even the biggest wins of the day to rack up gold and platinum certifications.
Oddly, none of Madonna’s singles have advanced past double platinum status. Just two tunes from the superstar—“4 Minutes” and “Vogue”—have doubled their total number of platinum plaques, as they’ve moved two million equivalent units.
“Papa Don’t Preach” was released in 1986 as the second single from Madonna’s third album True Blue. By the time it came out, she was already a star, and she had plenty of hits to her credit. “Papa Don’t Preach” brought the singer to the summit on the Hot 100 for the fourth time, and it’s counted among her dozen leaders.
