This Day in 1990: LED ZEPPELIN IV Goes Diamond

30 years ago today, Led Zeppelin’s fourth album – the cleverly-titled LED ZEPPELIN IV – officially earned an accolade that didn’t exist yet and, indeed, wouldn’t come into existence for another nine years. Still, once it became a thing, so did this album.

Confused yet? You should be. That was some truly awful phrasing on our part. Let’s try it again...

30 years ago today, LED ZEPPELIN IV was officially designated as a multi-platinum album, having sold 10 million copies. On May 26, 1999, however, the RIAA implemented a new designation: any album cracking the 10 million mark would officially be described as having “gone Diamond.” As such, we can still celebrate this date as the day LED ZEPPELIN IV went Diamond, even though it didn’t really go Diamond until May 26, 1999.

Got it?

Look, if you don’t get it, don’t worry about it. Just go listen to LED ZEPPELIN IV. In the long run, the songs matter way, way more than the sales figures. Of course, it’s really easy to say that when you’ve gone Diamond, but...

Never mind. Just go listen to LED ZEPPELIN IV.