Garth Brooks just landed an unprecedented honor in music history

Melissa Ruggieri, USA TODAYThu, June 4, 2026 at 7:52 PM UTC

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WASHINGTON – Garth Brooks has seemingly achieved every accolade in existence over his nearly 40-year career.

But he's managed to land another music industry unicorn.

On June 3 at the D.C. headquarters of the Recording Industry Association of America, Brooks was christened with the first Artist of a Lifetime honor and the only artist in history to earn 10 Diamond album certifications (more than 10 million sold per certification).

After a sweet introduction from longtime friend and storied industry producer/musician Don Was, who talked about late-night visits to a Nashville Shoney's with the country icon, a humble Brooks, clad in his usual uniform of jeans and cowboy hat, walked the small stage holding a microphone. Speaking sans notes he said, "They say gratefulness is the seed of happiness and I am grateful every single day to have been given this shot."

Garth Brooks performs at RIAA Honors on June 3, 2026, at the organization's Washington D.C. headquarters.

Brooks also tipped his hat to wife Trisha Yearwood, luminous in a floral-print dress and teared up as he called her, "talented and beautiful inside and out."

Before engaging the crowd packed into the intimate room with a few songs, Brooks joked that the 14-year hiatus he took starting in 2001 to help raise his daughters would be his last.

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"No more retirement! You're gonna have to drag my ass out," he said with a tearful smile.

Brooks, who is also the top-selling solo artist in U.S. history with more than 200 million albums sold, regaled the crowd with stories about one of his biggest influences, James Taylor. He then played snippets of "Fire and Rain" and "Carolina on My Mind" before veering into a delicate and poignant version of his own "The River."

Trisha Yearwood and Garth Brooks get a first look at his 10 RIAA-certified Diamond albums plaque featured in the organization's Washington, D.C. headquarters.

"I love music," he said as he rolled into a favorite song from "a great storyteller … I love this cat, and his voice is so hefty and powerful." Brooks was speaking of Bob Seger, and sang a bit of the Detroit rocker's moody "Turn the Page" before dovetailing into the Seger-inspired "The Thunder Rolls."

Brooks swapped out guitars to talk about some of his favorite "greatest ever" singers (Steve Perry, Freddie Mercury) and performers (Tina Turner, Michael Jackson) and laughed that, "I could never do any of that stuff." So he turned to the music of George Strait – "I still want to be George Strait," he said with a smile – and performed King George's "Amarillo By Morning" before asking the crowd to join in a spirited singalong of his 1990 breakthrough, "Friends in Low Places."

"Thank you for my life!" Brooks shouted as he exited the stage.

In addition to lauding Brooks' unprecedented album sales accomplishment, the annual RIAA Honors also recognized Disney Music Group President Ken Bunt and U.S. Representatives Nathaniel Moran (TX-01) and Madeleine Dean (PA-04) for their work to advance music policy such as the NO FAKES Act, currently sitting with Congress, to protect creatives and prevent the theft of voice and likeness using artificial intelligence.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Garth Brooks achieves unprecedented status from album sales

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