SZA’s sophomore album, SOS, has been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
The album has sold more than 500,000 equivalent units since its release on Dec. 9.
SZA’s previously shared singles “Good Days,” “I Hate U” and “Shirt” play an essential role in this feat. They garnered massive streaming activity since their respective release dates.
To put it in perspective, the three tracks combined have 980 million on-demand streams in the U.S.
“Good Days” and “I Hate U” are certified platinum by the RIAA, with the latter being 3x multi-platinum for achieving three million equivalent sales units.
According to HitsDailyDouble, SOS is expected to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The publication reports SOS garnered nearly 400 million streams in its opening week. If SOS debuts atop the Billboard 200, it will mark the Grammy-winning singer’s first No. 1 album on that coveted list.
The 23-track album includes features from Don Toliver (“Used”), Ol’Dirty Bastard (“Forgiveless”), Phoebe Bridgers (“Ghost In the Machine”) and Travis Scott (“Open Arms”). Scott also contributed ad-libs to “Low.”
For production, SZA collaborated with Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, Babyface, Leon Thomas, Jay Versace, Rob Bisel, thankgod4cody, Carter Lang and more.
Thomas, who contributed to “Snooze” with Babyface, exclusively told Rated R&B about his experience working on the song.
“I had met [SZA] before, but this was a great reintroduction to her new world of music. I’m glad that I was able to collaborate with such strong creators… The whole thing came together really fast. She wrote [“Snooze”] in an hour. We weren’t sure if she was going to use it, so it’s a super blessing,” said Thomas.
SZA recently announced her headlining SOS North American Tour with special guest Omar Apollo.
The tour kicks off Feb. 21, 2023, in Columbus, Ohio, at Schottenstein Center. From there, SZA will play at arenas in major cities, including Chicago, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Atlanta and Seattle.
The tour concludes March 22, 2023, at Kia Forum, in Los Angeles, California. Tickets for the SOS Tour are on sale now.
SOS arrives five years after SZA’s debut album, Ctrl. SZA celebrated the album’s fifth anniversary in June by releasing Ctrl (Deluxe), which included all the original songs plus seven unreleased tracks recorded during that era.
Ctrl debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart and No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B Albums chart.
The album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) four months after its release. In July 2020, the Grammy-nominated album was upgraded to 2x multi-platinum.
