Yesterday, the Recording Industry Association of America posted a photo of JAY-Z on Instagram, which showed Jay being honored with a Platinum certification for his new album, “4:44” . . . meaning that it’s sold 1 MILLION copies.
That’s pretty incredible, since it just came out last Friday, and people don’t buy music like they did 15 years ago. Oh, and by the way, the album ISN’T EVEN FOR SALE YET. You can only stream it exclusively on Tidal.
So how is this possible? Well, a source told “Variety” that the photo was taken a while back . . . and the Platinum certification is based on “pre-paid downloads.” And Jay-Z’s label has confirmed that the certification is for downloads, not streams.
