Getting a hit record is difficult enough, but getting a Diamond-certified song is even more difficult. Fortunately for Kanye West, one of the most famous tracks from his third album Graduation helped him achieve both. The rapper’s 2007 single “Stronger” has been certified as his first Diamond single by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). That means the song has sold at least 10 million copies since its initial release 14 years ago.
When it reached the top of the singles chart at the end of September in 2007, four months after its debut, “Stronger” became the rapper’s third No. 1 song. The song also received numerous accolades, including Best Hip-Hop Video at the 2007 BET Awards, Video Of The Year, Best Director, and Best Editing at the 2007 MTV VMAs, and Best Rap Solo Performance at the 2008 Grammy Awards.
One of the most well-known facts about “Stronger” is that it was allegedly blended over 75 times before and after its release. West worked on the song with eight audio engineers and 11 mix engineers from around the world, but he wasn’t satisfied until he enlisted Timbaland to redo the drum programming. Despite this, West later determined that the music wasn’t as excellent as Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger,” which he sampled for “Stronger.”
