Over two decades after its release, Lauryn Hill's album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill has reached diamond status. This makes Hill the first female rapper to achieve the title, beating out competitors such as Nicki Minaj, Lil' Kim, Missy Elliott, and more. She has now joined the ranks around 90+ artists, including 2Pac, Adele, and Michael Jackson.
What It Means To Go Diamond: The Diamond Award, created by The Recording Industry Association of America, is the highest benchmark of success. Quantified by the number of sales, this prestigious award is given to singles and albums receiving 10 million or more sales.
Why Now: Most, if not all, hip hop fans can agree The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is one of the best albums ever released to date. Yet somehow, it took over 20 years for 10 million people to understand that. Our speculation is that the increase of music education across social media, via subreddits, Tik Tok, Instagram, and even other music publications has increased awareness of this album. Plus, keep in mind that platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora Radio and YouTube made it easier for people to discover and listen to artists. Nowadays, appreciating and discussing older albums is just as important as finding an emerging artist — you must appreciate the music that came before to appreciate the music that is to come. If you haven't heard Hill's album, we highly recommend listening to it below. It truly is one of the few albums that has no skips.
Who's Next: It is hard to predict who will follow in Hill's footsteps, but the numbers don't lie. Rappers such as Eve, Missy Elliott, Da Brat, Cardi B, and Nicki Minaj all currently have at least one Platinum album and those sale numbers are growing constantly. Perhaps the next album to reach Diamond status hasn't even been released yet. Only time will tell.
Have you heard The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill? Let us know in the comments!