Despite the fact that OutKast co-founder André 3000 has become a recluse and musical enigma over the years, the legendary Atlanta rap group’s legacy continues to reverberate throughout pop culture.
Dré and Big Boi made history once again as their groundbreaking album, Speakerboxx/The Love Below has just become the best-selling rap album of all time.
According to the Recording Industry Association of America, Speakerboxx/TheLove Below, which featured the blockbuster hits “Hey Ya!” and “The Way You Move,” is now certified platinum 13 times, which means it has sold more than 13 million records since it was released in 2004.
With that momentous distinction, the duo named the greatest rap group of all time by Rolling Stone has surpassed Eminem’s The Eminem Show — which has been certified 12 times — to take over the top spot in the genre.
It helped that Speakerboxxx/The Love Below is a double album, which means that every album sold is counted twice. But this is nothing new in hip-hop as multiple other legendary albums are also double LPs, including Tupac Shakur’s All Eyez on Me and Biggie’s Life After Death.
The bestselling album of all time overall remains Michael Jackson’s Thriller which has been certified platinum more than 30 times by the RIAA.
Another monumental aspect of OutKast’s career is the fact that all of their albums have at least gone platinum, with 2000’s Stankonia their second biggest-selling album with five million sold and counting.
According to the RIAA, this is a partial list of top-selling rap albums of all time:
13x Platinum:
- OutKast — Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
12x Platinum:
- Eminem — The Eminem Show
11x Platinum:
- Eminem — The Marshall Mathers LP
- The Notorious B.I.G. — Life After Death
10x Platinum (Diamond):
- 2Pac — All Eyez On Me
- 2Pac — Greatest Hits
- Beastie Boys — Licensed to Ill
- MC Hammer — Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em
- Lauryn Hill — The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
- Nelly — Country Grammar
- Eminem — Curtain Call: The Hits
Check out the time when OutKast also made history as the first rap act to win Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards back in 2004.
