Dean Martin is one of the most popular crooners of all time. The King of Cool dominated the music industry for many years in its early days, and his legacy lives on as millions continue to hear his distinctive voice and signature traditional pop sound.
Decades after his death in 1995, Martin’s music is still played regularly in the U.S. All of those streams and continued sales have earned the singer a special honor—one that many believe he’s already earned.
Martin receives his first platinum single in the US this week. The singer’s “Everybody Loves Somebody” was certified platinum by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) after selling at least one million copies.
Amazingly, “Everybody Loves Somebody” is Martin’s first platinum single in the U.S. In fact, it’s his only song to ever receive platinum certification, which is quite surprising.
“Everybody Loves Somebody” was first certified in 1964. Back when it was a current hit, the RIAA honored it with a gold certification, meaning it sold 500,000 copies in the year of its release. It would take another six decades for it to sell another half a million copies.
Today, the RIAA certifies songs and albums based on the total number of copies sold. The organization changed its methodology a few years ago to include streams as platforms like Spotify and Apple Music became the preferred medium for music consumption for the masses. For decades, these awards only counted sales, but now they’re about full listening, not just purchases.
Martin released “Everybody Loves Somebody” in 1964. The song had been recorded more than a decade earlier in the late 1940s by fellow singer Frank Sinatra, but it was Martin who made it a hit.
Only about a month after “Everybody Loves Somebody” became a hit in America, Martin released an album of the same name. The project was intended to capitalize on the success of the song that was the standout of the collection. This set was also a commercial success, despite being released at the same time as another album by the same singer.