14 Albums From TRL Favorites That Went Diamond

With a combination of great music, incredibly supportive fan bases, a daily television show dedicated to those fan bases, and the timing of it all happening in the final decade before iTunes and streaming took over, the TRL era provided an optimal setting for record breaking album sales.

Ask any artist who was popular back when Carson Daly was on MTV every afternoon, and they’ll likely tell you the TRL years, which were from 1998 to 2008, were the absolute best time to be an artist with a Top 40 hit.

Diamond status, which indicates an album has sold over 10 million copies, is rarified air, but we found 14 albums from TRL favorites that reached that sales plateau. 

 

Santana – 'Supernatural' (1999)

15x Platinum

With all of the young pop stars that dominated the era, who would have thought a middle aged guitarist would top them all in album sales? Well, when that middle aged guitarist is the legendary Carlos Santana, and you pair him up with Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas, you get a hit so “Smooth” that it leads an album to incredible sales heights.

Supernatural also featured the follow up single “Maria Maria,” with The Product G&B, but only “Smooth” inspired one of the greatest t-shirts ever.

 

Backstreet Boys – 'Backstreet Boys' (1997)

14x Platinum

BSB’s eponymous debut featured the mega-hits “Quit Playing Games (with My Heart),” “As Long as You Love Me,” “All I Have to Give,” and “I’ll Never Break Your Heart.”

Interestingly, only the 1998 reissue had “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back).” This was apparently due to the fact that while BSB was already known internationally, the label felt it would be odd to have a song named “Backstreet’s Back” on their first album released in the US.

This album also marked the start of the Max Martin era of pop music, an era which we are still currently in, 20 years later.

 

Britney Spears – '…Baby One More Time' (1999)

14x Platinum

Led by arguably one of the 10 greatest pop songs of all-time, …Baby One More Time launched Britney Spears into the spotlight, and inspired a million Britney clones.

Along with the legendary title track, the album featured the hits “Sometimes,” “(You Drive Me) Crazy,” “From the Bottom of My Broken Heart,” and “Born to Make You Happy.”

With over 14 million units sold, …Baby One More Time holds the record as the best selling album by a teenage solo artist.

 

Backstreet Boys – 'Millennium' (1999)

13x Platinum

Lest anyone think the Backstreet Boys would be a one album wonder, the boy band came back with Millennium, which was led by the genre-defining hit, “I Want It That Way.” Even just reading the title of the song can lead to it being stuck in your head (if you aren’t humming it yet, let me help … you are, my fiiire).

In addition to “I Want It That Way,” the album featured “Larger Than Life,” and “Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely,” and proved boy bands could have staying power.

 

Kid Rock – 'Devil Without a Cause' (1998)

11x Platinum

Kid Rock was perhaps the most unexpected, and unlikely, superstar of the TRL era. While current fans know him more as a country musician, in the late ‘90s he was giving listeners an aggressive combination of rap and rock that spoke to a heck of a lot of people.

Led by the monster hit, “Bawitdaba,” Devil Without a Cause also featured the similarly aggressive “Cowboy,” as well as the more slowed down singles “Only God Knows Why,” and “Wasting Time.”

With rumors swirling about his possible candidacy for Senator in Michigan, it’s nice to remember when Kid Rock was a rebel.

 

Creed – 'Human Clay' (1999)

11x Platinum

Every generation has a band that, when future generations look back on the era, leads to the question, “Why were they so popular?” For the TRL era, that band is Creed.

 

Creed had generic rock hits like “Higher,” “With Arms Wide Open,” and “What If.” What they also had was perfect timing, because apparently those generic rock hits were exactly what we were looking for back then.

There’s no way we can explain the Creed phenomenon to anyone who wasn’t there to experience it. It happened, and I’m betting quite a few folks still count them as a guilty pleasure.

 

Eminem – 'The Marshall Mathers LP' (2000)

11x Platinum

Already a star in both the hip-hop and pop worlds, The Marshall Mathers LP launched Eminem to a level of notoriety that turned him into both a household name, and a constant point of contention for anyone who didn’t enjoy, or understand, his work.

 

The album sold more than 1.76 million copies in its first week – a record at the time for a solo artist – and was led by the singles, “The Real Slim Shady,” “The Way I Am,” and “Stan.”

Eminem’s popularity happening at the same time, and with much of the same fan base, as the pop stars of the era, was an indicator of the varied tastes of a generation that wouldn’t be pigeonholed.

 

NSYNC – 'No Strings Attached' (2000)

11x Platinum

NSYNC’s second album held quite the distinction until just two years ago. Selling 2.4 million copies in its first week, No Strings Attached held the record for first week album sales until Adele moved 3.38 million copies of 25 in its first week in 2015.

 

Led by the hits “Bye Bye Bye,” “It’s Gonna Be Me” and “This I Promise You,” No Strings Attached eventually outsold NSYNC’s eponymous debut — a feat that was no easy task considering their debut is also on this list.

 

Linkin Park – 'Hybrid Theory' (2000)

11x Platinum

While bands like Korn and Limp Bizkit introduced the TRL audience to nu metal, it was Linkin Park who took the genre to new heights, especially sales-wise.

Featuring the monster hits “One Step Closer,” “Crawling” and “In the End,” and buoyed by crossover airplay on rock and pop radio, Hybrid Theory became the best selling nu metal album of all-time.

Even though the album is now 17 years old, it doesn’t sound dated at all, which is a heck of an accomplishment.

 

Eminem – 'The Eminem Show' (2002)

11x Platinum

Eminem’s follow up to his wildly successful The Marshall Mathers LP, The Eminem Show may have actually been a better album, content-wise.

After the token pop oriented lead single, “Without Me,” songs like “Cleanin’ Out My Closet,” and “Sing for the Moment,” went deeper on both a personal, and a societal, level than he’d ever gone before.

With that in mind, it’s no surprise The Eminem Show equaled the incredible sales mark of its predecessor.

 

NSYNC – '*NSYNC' (1998)

10x Platinum

NSYNC’s debut album, aka the moment the non Mickey Mouse Club watching world was introduced to Justin Timberlake, showed everyone that the Backstreet Boys weren’t the only boy band in town.

With hits like, “I Want You Back,” “Tearin’ Up My Heart,” “God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You,” and “I Drive Myself Crazy,” NSYNC’s eponymous debut helped set the stage for a debate that still rages to this day – BSB, or NSYNC?

 

Britney Spears – 'Oops!… I Did It Again' (2000)

10x Platinum

Yes, Britney literally did it again, the “it” in this case being going diamond.

It’s pretty incredible for an artist to have ONE diamond album, but Ms. Spears went back to back, and with singles like the title track, as well as “Lucky,” “Stronger,” and “Don’t Let Me Be the Last to Know,” it’s really no surprise she reached this height for a second time.

 

Nelly – 'Country Grammar' (2000)

10x Platinum

I’m not sure Nelly had any idea that his catchy hooks would turn him into a pop star, but the St. Louis rapper went from local celebrity, to household name, thanks to Country Grammar.

Led by the title track, as well as the singles “Ride wit Me,” and “E.I.,” Nelly’s sing-song choruses were pleasing to pop listeners, while his lyrics, and flow, made him a favorite amongst hip-hop audiences. Combine those fan bases and you have yourself a diamond album.

 

Usher – 'Confessions' (2004)

10x Platinum

Originally a favorite of R&B audiences, Usher became one of the biggest stars in all of music thanks to Confessions.

Featuring the hit singles “Yeah,” “Burn,” “Confessions Part II,” “My Boo,” and “Caught Up,” the album moved Usher from simply being a genre specific star, to being an all out superstar, and he’s never looked back.

Who knew a confession could be so rewarding?

 

Want more blasts from the past? Check out our #THROWBACKTHURSDAY page.

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