Happy birthday to Marc Anthony! The Nuyorican icon rings in 52 with a new accolade to his name: the first diamond-certified salsa music album in the U.S.
This week Anthony became the first artist in salsa music to receive a diamante (the Latin music equivalent of diamond) certification for his top-selling 2013 album 3.0. Afo Verde, the chairman and CEO of Sony Music Iberia, presented him with the diamante plaque in a virtual ceremony.
“It’s a huge honor for us at Sony Music to work with Marc,” said Verde in a statement. “He continues to break records time and time again and creates new ones all on his own. It’s wonderful to witness this and his greatness and only an artist like him could reach these historic milestones. His music is forever.”
When 3.0 was first released, the album topped both Billboard’s Top Latin Albums and Tropical Albums charts. It also impressively peaked at No. 5 on the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart. The biggest hit on the album was Anthony’s “Vivir Mi Vida,” his salsa cover of Algerian singer Khaled’s “C’est La Vie.”
“3.0 was an album that I considered risky at the time of its release,” Anthony said in a statement. “The Latin music industry was beginning to shift and the main attention was going to other genres. The album was embraced by everyone in such a powerful way. The response gave so much reassurance to my career and my instincts as a music creator.”
To celebrate this major achievement and Anthony’s birthday, we rounded up a few of his greatest hits in a playlist. Listen to it below.