Queen of the single: Rihanna is the first artist to pass 100M sold and streamed

By Chris Leo Palermino July 1, 2015

travis scott sia rihanna anti — Electrolysis / Shutterstock.com

Pop superstar Rihanna now has one more accolade to add to the pile: 100 million singles downloaded and streamed.

The 27 year-old singer has topped the Recording Industry of America (RIAA)’s Digital Single Awards list, making her the first artist to cross the 100 million singles threshold. It’s a huge number, but we’re also talking about a singer who’s released mega hits We Found Love (with Calvin Harris), Stay, Only Girl (In the World),Umbrella, and six other chart-topping singles in the US. It has now been a decade since Rihanna’s first single, 2005’s Pon de Replay, and she’s still going strong.

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“We’ve given awards to artists for nearly 60 years, but it’s rare that we have the opportunity to recognize a milestone like the one Rihanna has reached,” said RIAA CEO Cary Sherman in a statement. “Congratulations to Rihanna! She has not only surpassed RIAA’s one-hundred million mark, but also is the first artist to do so. It’s a historic feat and a testament to an extraordinary career.”

The honor is the result of 37 separate singles during her career. Nine-time multi-platinum We Found Love was the most popular, but Stay, What’s My Name, and Only Girl (In the World) also received six-time multi-platinum awards. RiRi isn’t just a singles artist, though. She’s amassed 7.5 million albums sold, including the 2007 double-platinum Girls Gone Bad.

Rihanna’s currently working on her eighth studio album featuring the already-released two-time platinum song FourFiveSeconds (featuring Kanye West and Paul McCartney) and the platinum song Bitch Better Have My Money. Kanye West is also producing the to-be-released album.

While Rihanna sits alone at the top of the digital singles mountain, it looks like she may have company in the 100 million club soon: Taylor Swift (88 million singles) and Katy Perry (79 million singles) are close behind, and moving up fast.

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Chris Leo Palermino

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Chris Leo Palermino is a music, tech, business, and culture journalist based between New York and Boston. He also contributes…

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