In This Issue:
All DIAMOND-certified (sales and equivalent streaming albums in excees of ten million in the United States) Hard Rock, Metal, and Punk(ish) albums, including Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Metallica, No Doubt, Green Day, and now, Evanescence.
Plus: Ghost goes GOLD (again) and new 2022 Year-End Best Albums lists.1
EVANESCENCE GOES DIAMOND
A few months shy of its 20th anniversary, the debut album from Evanescence is certified DIAMOND for sales and streams in excess of 10 million in the United States. Driven by the enduring success of “Bring Me To Life” (featured on the soundtrack to 2003’s Daredevil) and subsequent singles “Going Under,” “My Immortal,” and “Everybody’s Fool,” 2003’s Fallen earned two Grammys.
Amy Lee, Ben Moody, and David Hodges are the only band members credited, with the rest of the record rounded out by session players. Fallen included a reworked version of the song “Tourniquet” by fellow Little Rock, Arkansas band Soul Embraced, a side project of Living Sacrifice guitarist Rocky Gray, who joined Evanescence on drums after Fallen’s release and remained till 2007.
Moody abruptly left the band during an October 2003 tour. He went on to co-write songs with Avril Lavigne, Kelly Clarkson, Anastacia, Lindsay Lohan, Daughtry, Celine Dion, and Halestorm. In 2009, he recruited Gray and ex-Evanescence guitarist John LeCompt into a new band called Fallen, featuring American Idol finalist Carly Smithson. Eventually retitled We Are The Fallen, the group released a single album together on Universal Republic in 2010.
Evanescence has released four more albums since Fallen, including 2006’s double-platinum The Open Door and last year’s The Bitter Truth (BMG).
(Only 27 of the 127 certified-diamond albums are by women.)
Diamond Certified Hard Rock Albums
Sales (& Streaming Equivalent Albums) of 10 Million+
AC/DC Back in Black (25M)
Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin IV (24M)
Pink Floyd The Wall (23M)
Guns N’ Roses Appetite for Destruction (18M)
Led Zeppelin Physical Graffiti (16M)
Metallica Metallica (16M)
Journey Greatest Hits (15M)
Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon (15M)
Meat Loaf Bat Out of Hell (14M)
Pearl Jam Ten (13M)
Aerosmith Greatest Hits (12M)
Bon Jovi Slippery When Wet (12M)
Def Leppard Hysteria (12M)
Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin II (12M)
Linkin Park Hybrid Theory (12M)
Creed Human Clay (11M)
Kid Rock Devil Without a Cause (11M)
Led Zeppelin Houses of the Holy (11M)
Def Leppard Pyromania (10M)
Evanescence Fallen (10M)
Green Day Dookie (10M)
Journey Escape (10M)
Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin (10M)
Nickelback All the Right Reasons (10M)
Nirvana Nevermind (10M)
No Doubt Tragic Kingdom (10M)
Smashing Pumpkins Mellon Collie… (10M)
Van Halen Van Halen (10M)
Van Halen 1984 (10M)
ZZ Top Eliminator (10M)
GHOST GOES GOLD (AGAIN)
“Mary On A Cross” took off thanks to a Stranger Things-themed TikTok video and is now the band’s fourth GOLD single this year. Three Ghost songs went Gold in June: “Cirice” (2015),” “Square Hammer” (2016), and “Dance Macabre” (2018). “Mary On A Cross” first appeared on 2019’s Seven Inches of Satanic Panic EP.
Upset Magazine
Nova Twins, Supernova
Static Dress, Rogue Carpet Disaster
Witch Fever, Congregation
PUP, The Unraveling of Pup The Band
Yard Act, The Overload
The Wonder Years, The Hum Goes On Forever
The Linda Lindas, Growing Up
Alexisonfire, Otherness
Bob Vylan, Bob Vylan Presents
Stand Atlantic, F.E.A.R.
Stereogum
Hard Rock/Metal/Punk(ish)
Soul Glo, Diaspora Problems (No. 9 overall)
Mindforce, New Lords (No. 16)
Chat Pile, God’s Country (No. 30)
Drug Church, Hygiene (No. 33)
Ripped To Shreds, Jubian (No. 49)
Sources: RIAA, Misc.