NMPA Announces Top Gold & Platinum Songwriters and Certifications for First Quarter of 2021
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) Gold & Platinum Program today announced the top songwriters for the first quarter of 2021, including the top artist-songwriter and top non-performing songwriter for the Q1 period.
During January, February and March, 1,213 Gold, Platinum and Multi-Platinum certifications were awarded. Rod Wave was the top artist-songwriter overall with 10 certifications including “Rags2Riches” reaching double Multi-Platinum status. He is published by Sony Music Publishing.
The top non-performing songwriter was Mike Dean with seven certifications including reaching two-time Multi-Platinum status for “Ultralight Beam” performed by Kanye West. Additionally, “For The Night” performed by Pop Smoke ft. Lil Baby & DaBaby reached the four-time Multi-Platinum threshold. He is published by Warner Chappell.
NMPA President & CEO David Israelite congratulated the honorees saying, “Thus far we’ve made huge progress in 2021 towards enjoying music in person again and the resilience of the industry is a direct result of songwriters and artists continuing to create. Huge congratulations to Rod Wave for a phenomenal quarter with double-digit certifications and to Grammy-winning producer Mike Dean who achieved an impressive three Multi-Platinum certifications in three months.”
“Thankful to be one of the top writers of q1!,” added Mike Dean. “I love writing, so it’s rewarding when it’s appreciated. Great way to start the year.”
The full list of songwriters and publishers honored can be found HERE.
About the NMPA G&P Program:
NMPA’s Gold & Platinum Program, in partnership with RIAA's Gold & Platinum Program, identifies and honors the songwriters behind today’s biggest hits. NMPA confirms songwriters with their music publishers to ensure all appropriate songwriters are recognized for their contribution to an RIAA certified single. Certifications count both sales and on-demand streams towards gold (500K), platinum (1M) and multi-platinum (2M+) thresholds. Thousands of songwriters have been certified since NMPA’s program began in 2007. For more information and to view our Gold & Platinum database, visit www.nmpa.org/gp-program .