The storm that has been Sam Smith never seems to dwindle, his stardom reaching new heights every year and his fans growing with every VEVO view. The young star rose to fame in October 2012 when he was featured on Disclosure’s breakthrough single “Latch,” followed by his subsequent feature on Naughty Boy’s “La La La,” earning him his first number one single in May 2013.
A thank you, a thank you
From there, it’s just been a Sam Smith squall, charting single after single in countries reaching far beyond his home base U.K. To show the star just how much we love him, yesterday Capitol Records presented Smith with a plaque commemorating four million adjusted album sales of his GRAMMY-winning debut In The Lonely Hour. The ceremony took Sam back to where it all began—the Troubadour in West Hollywood, CA. Smith made his U.S. debut at the Troubadour with two sold-out shows December 2 and 3, 2013. Two years later, the U.K. artist is playing sold-out concerts at the Madison Square Garden in New York and The Forum in Los Angeles.
Since its release in June 2014, In The Lonely Hour debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and continues to char in the Top 20. It is the biggest-selling U.K. male debut in the SoundScan era. SoundScan is the tracking system by ACNielsen that tracks sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada. His RIAA-certified Single sales in the U.S. has reached 14 million, Stay With Me becoming 6x Platinum), “I’m Not The Only One,” (4x Platinum), “Lay Me Down” (2x Platinum) and the Gold singles “Like I Can,” “Leave Your Lover,” “Money On My Mind” and “Latch.”
Thus far, Smith has won a total of four GRAMMY Awards, the most ever received by a U.K. arists following the release of a debut album. “Stay With Me” won awards for both Record and Song of the Year, while In The Lonely Hour took Best Pop Vocal Album honors and Smith himself was named Best New Artist. It seems like forever ago that I saw the bright-eyed, bushy-tailed (and a few pounds heavier) Sam Smith at Bonnaroo in 2014. He was barely in the middle section of the lineup. Oh, how times have changed.
