Outkast has not released an album since 2006’s Idlewild, but their music remains as popular and influential today as it ever was. According to The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), their 2003 double LP the Speakerboxxx/The Love Below is now the best-selling Hip-Hop album of all time in the United States, surpassing Eminem‘s The Eminem Show.
The album was certified 13x-Platinum on Friday (September 29), meaning it has sold over 13 million copies. This puts Speakerboxxx/The Love Below among the best-selling albums of any genre.
In celebration, Big Boi took to Instagram to post a video of him unwrapping a framed plaque commemorating the album’s astounding 13 million sales. In his caption, he expressed gratitude and highlighted OutKast’s enduring impact on the music scene.
“Over 13 Million albums sold… outkast is everlasting. Stank You Smelly Much …To All Y’all,” he wrote.
OutKast’s 2000 album “Stankonia” is also halfway to Diamond status, having been certified 5x-Platinum by the RIAA in November 2021.
“Speakerboxxx/The Love Below” was a cultural phenomenon upon its release. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, and its two biggest singles, “Hey Ya!” and “The Way You Move,” both reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The album also won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, becoming only the second Hip-Hop album to do so after Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
Eminem’s 2022 album “The Eminem Show” previously held the RIAA certification record for a Hip-Hop album at 12x-Platinum. Other Diamond-certified rap albums include The Notorious B.I.G.’s Life After Death (11x-Platinum), 2Pac’s Greatest Hits (10x-Platinum), 2Pac’s All Eyez On Me (10x-Platinum), Beastie Boys’ Licensed to Ill (10x-Platinum), MC Hammer’s Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em (10x-Platinum), and Nelly’s Country Grammar (10x-Platinum).
The biggest-selling album ever of any genre in the U.S. is the Eagles’ 1971-75 greatest hits collection (38x platinum), followed closely by Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” (34 times Platinum), the Eagles again with “Hotel California” (26x Platinum), and AC/DC’s “Back in Black” (25x Platinum).
