Following the 20th anniversary of 8701, Usher celebrates his first certification from the Recording Industry Association of America as a lead artist in six years.
“Don’t Waste My Time,” his duet featuring Ella Mai, is now certified gold, surpassing 500,000 equivalent digital units sold.
Usher’s prior RIAA certification as a lead act was “I Don’t Mind,” featuring Juicy J, which went double platinum in 2015. His blockbuster duet “My Boo” with Alicia Keys was upped to triple platinum status last August. Meanwhile, his previous certification as a lone artist was in 2013 with “Scream” from Looking 4 Myself. It is certified platinum.
“Don’t Waste,” expected to appear on his long-awaited Confessions 2 album, earned him a historic feat on the Billboard Adult R&B Airplay chart last year. He became the third artist in the chart’s then-26 year history to have chart-toppers in three different decades (2020s, 2010s, 2000s), joining Alicia Keys and Charlie Wilson.
The Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox-produced song has been streamed more than 35 million times on Spotify, while the official video has been seen over 28.6 million times on YouTube.
Usher, who is currently in Las Vegas performing a residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, had the lyric video for his Jam & Lewis collaboration “Do It To Yourself” premiered on Rated R&B earlier this month.
Jam (of Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis) also spoke with us about working behind the boards on 8701. Revisit its editorial here.
In 2020, Usher dished out several songs, including the eye-watering “I Cry,” the Kiana Ledé-featured “This Day,” and the number-one R&B single “Bad Habits.”
After listening to Justin Bieber’s “Peaches (Remix)” featuring Usher, Ludacris, and Snoop Dogg, take a look at our 15 underrated songs by Usher here.
