Lauryn Hill's debut solo album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, is continuing to make history!
More than 20 years after its release, the beloved LP, which is arguably one of the greatest albums of all time, reached diamond status.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced the news on Tuesday (February 17), revealing that Miseducation had sold more than ten million units since its 1998 release, marking the first album by a female rapper to earn a Diamond certification.
Lauryn joins an exclusive list of artists who have earned diamond-certified records, including Prince and the Revolution's Purple Rain (1984, 13x Platinum), The Beatles' Abbey Road (1969, 12x Platinum), Michael Jackson's Thriller (1982, 33x Platinum), TLC's CrazySexyCool (1995, 11x Platinum), Adele's 21 (2011, 14x Platinum), and Notorious B.I.G.'s Life After Death (1997, 10x Platinum).
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart in 1998, selling 422,624 copies in its first week, which broke the record at the time for first-week sales by a female artist. The album was also the first hip-hop LP to ever receive a Grammy Award for Album of The Year.
Despite its critical acclaim and commercial success, the project was the last album Lauryn ever released.
Last month, the esteemed lyricist explained for the first time why she never produced a follow-up to Miseducation, telling Rolling Stone in a rare email interview, "The wild thing is no one from my label has ever called me and asked how can we help you make another album, EVER…EVER. Did I say ever? Ever!”
She added, “With the Miseducation, there was no precedent. I was, for the most part, free to explore, experiment and express. After the Miseducation, there were scores of tentacled obstructionists, politics, repressing agendas, unrealistic expectations, and saboteurs EVERYWHERE. People had included me in their own narratives of THEIR successes as it pertained to my album, and if this contradicted my experience, I was considered an enemy.”
Photo: Getty Images