RIAA: Lorde’s ‘Royals’ & Miley Cyrus’ ‘Party in the USA’ Break Mariah Carey & Katy Perry’s Record for Highest-Certifed Female Hit Ever

While enjoying the seemingly unstoppable run of her hit comeback single, ‘Flowers,’ earlier this year, Miley Cyrus learned her biggest-selling single to date – 2009’s ‘Party in the USA‘ – had been upgraded to 12x Platinum (a measure denoting sales equivalence of 12 million in the USA) by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

At the time, the feat put her in a three-way tie with Katy Perry‘s ‘Firework‘ and Mariah Carey‘s ‘All I Want for Christmas‘ for 1st place among female-led songs.

The trio held the title for a mere 7 months before singer-songwriter Lorde snatched the crown with her 2013 hit, ‘Royals,’ which was certified 13x Platinum on September 29.

Fans of the New Zealand-reared could barely enjoy the win, however, before Miley’s ‘Party’ crashed the party with yet another certification update – less than two weeks later.

Details inside.

Taking to press Tuesday (October 10), the RIAA published news that Miley had the certification statuses of a number of her titles updated. Among them was ‘Party’ – which now sits at 13x Platinum.

See the full list below.

13x Platinum

‘Party in the USA’ (Single)

3x Platinum

‘Time of Our Lives’ (Album)

1x Platinum

‘Butterfly Fly Away’ (Single)

Gold

‘Stay’ (Single)

‘Fly on the Wall’ (Single)

Collectively, the moves above shift the Pop diva’s cumulative digital single sales to 60 million in the United States – making her one of the highest-selling women of all time.

The most noteworthy callout, however, is that the newfound ranking of ‘Party’ ties Miley with Lorde for highest-certified female-led single in the American music history.

Among all acts, the only songs certified higher are Post Malone & Swae Lee‘s ‘Sunflower’ (18x Platinum), Lil Nas X‘s ‘Old Town Road‘ (17x Platinum), Imagine Dragons’ ‘Radioactive’ and Ed Sheeran‘s ‘Thinking Out Loud‘ (16x Platinum), Drake‘s ‘God’s Plan’ and The Chainsmokers’ ‘Closer’ (15x Platinum each), and Chris Stapleton’s ‘Tennessee Whiskey,’ Foster the People’s ‘Pumped Up Kicks,’ Florida Georgia Line‘s ‘Cruise,’ Gotye‘s ‘Somebody That I Used to Know,’ John Legend‘s ‘All of Me,’ and Post’s ‘Congratulations’ (14x Platinum each).

[source]