Calvin Harris Goes Platinum With Another Single
Calvin Harris has had one of the most quietly dominant summer-single streaks in pop and dance music history, and 2017 was shaping up to be no exception. “Slide,” the Frank Ocean and Migos-featuring lead single off his Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1 album, had been all over radio and streaming playlists since its release that spring, and by the end of May the numbers finally caught up with the hype.
It’s been awhile since Calvin Harris hasn’t had a hit single during the summer time. In fact, Calvin Harris admitted that the last time he didn’t have a hit single during summer was in 2010. “I remember it well,” said Calvin Harris.
Today (May 31), Calvin Harris is celebrating another platinum record with his recent success of “Slide” featuring Frank Ocean and Migos.
To date, the audio preview on YouTube has more than 18.4 million streams and has been one of the year’s most important releases. Congratulations to Calvin Harris and his entire team!
SLIDE is officially platinum!!! Thank you!!! pic.twitter.com/LtDfHgxW1Z
— Calvin Harris (@CalvinHarris) May 31, 2017
https://twitter.com/CalvinHarris/status/870019794438717442
2010 I remember it well 😔 https://t.co/hABf7ifVuO
— Calvin Harris (@CalvinHarris) May 30, 2017
https://twitter.com/CalvinHarris/status/869635673342345216
The RIAA plaque made it official: “Slide” had moved enough units and streams to earn platinum certification, capping off a stretch where Harris hasn’t gone a summer without a hit single since way back in 2010. Between the guest verses, the horn-driven funk production, and Harris’s ear for a hook that works just as well poolside as it does in a club, it’s not hard to see why this one caught fire the way it did.
It also says something about how far Harris has stretched his sound over the past few years. Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1 leaned hard into disco and funk influences instead of the big room house that made him famous in the first place, and pulling in guests like Frank Ocean, Migos, Katy Perry, and Pharrell across the album proved he could pivot genres and still land a platinum record on the first try. Congrats to the whole “Slide” team — and if 2010 really was the last time Calvin Harris had an off summer, the rest of us should be so lucky.
