Tyler Childers Earns Platinum Status Yet Again
Tyler Childers continues to rack up the milestones and the precious metal as the popularity of his album Purgatory continues to defy odds. Released five years ago last week, Purgatory continues to be one of the most popular titles in all of country music, and it continues to rack up the certifications to prove it.
On August 9th, Purgatory was officially Certified Platinum by the RIAA. That means the title has racked up 1 million in sales, downloads, and streaming equivalents over its lifespan. According to this week’s charts, Purgatory is actually at 1,239,651 in sales and equivalents, earning another 8,200 units over the last week, which was good enough for #17 on the Billboard Country Albums chart.
The Platinum Certification joins Purgatory singles “Lady May” and “Whitehouse Road” which have also earned Platinum status, as well as the song “Feathered Indians” which broke the glass ceiling for a non radio supported artist when it went DOUBLE Platinum on May 26th for surpassing sales of two million—the first time that has been done.
Childers instigated the flood of RIAA certifications for independent artists when “Feathered Indians” was Certified Gold for achieving 500,000 in sales, downloads, and streaming equivalents on February 21st, 2020. Now Cody Jinks, Sturgill Simpson, The Avett Brothers, Whiskey Myers, and others have gotten in on the action from the independent realm. Purgatory was released on Tyler’s own Hickman Holler Records, distributed by Thirty Tigers.
Whiskey Myers alone now has three Certified Platinum singles and another Certified Gold single themselves. They also made it back into the Top 10 this week on the Billboard Country Albums chart with their new album Tornillo. Accruing 12,639 in sales and streaming equivalents, this put the Southern rock band at #10 on the Billboard Country Albums chart.
Zach Bryan remains at #2 on the country albums chart with American Heartbreak, right behind Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album. Zach Bryan’s recent EP Summertime Blues is also at #18. This means there are four non-radio supported titles currently in the Top 20 when you also count Tyler’s Purgatory.
Country artists who don’t enjoy mainstream country radio play continue to gain share in the mainstream country music marketplace, with now a host of artists enjoying accolades we once thought untouchable. But no title or artist has outperformed our expectations like Tyler Childers and Purgatory.
August 13, 2022 @ 11:28 am
Too bad he stopped playing Whitehouse Road although he’s got plenty of other good ones to play including a bunch of new ones.
August 13, 2022 @ 11:33 am
Why would a country music radio station ignore a multi-platinum selling country artist? Just because he is independent? You would think he could bring in new listeners. It’s hard to make sense out of it.
The only possible conclusion is that we are talking about different radio formats. There’s mainstream country and there’s outlaw country. On some level, the suits have determined that playing outlaw country on a mainstream channel cuts into profitability somehow. For every outlaw fan you might bring in by playing Cody Jinks or whatever, you must lose five bros or something like that. Or maybe they need different kinds of ads targeted at them, or something.
August 14, 2022 @ 7:27 am
I think I read about this on an older article on SCM, but the thing is that country radio stations don’t usually make as much money out of country fans as they do out of catching the listens from commuters who listen to top 40 type music. The business model is just tangentially related to country music because they’re really after pop music listener money.
August 14, 2022 @ 12:21 pm
I’ve been listening to Tyler, whiskey Meyers, Steele drivers, and Cody for about a year now. It’s nice to see artists going back to old ways of playing. Including slide and steele guitars. They’re getting lost in the “new age”.
August 15, 2022 @ 6:41 am
Tyler Childers and all his amazingly talented friends will change country music forever and for the better!!! Thank God for Tyler!!!
August 23, 2022 @ 1:50 pm
Not if he keeps playing crappy sets full of lame covers at his shows.
November 7, 2022 @ 9:09 pm
You’re obviously mistaken darling, Tyler has never had a Less than phenomenal set! Hell, he could sing a cookbook or a church program and his ass would still make you a Sunday face!