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Charlie Handsome Named Top Songwriter at Nashville's NMPA Gold and Platinum Gala

Kiran MachadoPublished 14m ago3 min readBased on 2 sources
Charlie Handsome Named Top Songwriter at Nashville's NMPA Gold and Platinum Gala
Photo by West Point / CC BY 2.0

Charlie Handsome was named songwriter of the year on Thursday night, 22 October, at the 8th annual NMPA Gold and Platinum Gala in Nashville. Billboard reported that the songwriter earned 35 new certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) over the last year in country music alone.

The gala was held at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in downtown Nashville. It honoured more than 150 songwriters whose country songs reached Gold, Platinum, Multi-Platinum or Diamond status. Those are sales and streaming levels set by the RIAA, which certifies recordings when they pass them. The honoured certifications covered the RIAA's eligibility period from July 2025 to June 2026.

The gala is run by the National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA), a trade group for American music publishers, founded in 1917. Publishers look after the copyrights in songs and collect money when those songs are used. The association's Gold and Platinum Program, which has run since 2007, celebrates the songwriters behind popular music. NMPA says its job is to protect and advance the interests of publishers and songwriters, at home and abroad.

More than 80 multi-platinum hitmakers from the Nashville community were presented with songwriting plaques. Vince Gill received the legacy songwriter icon award. His songs "One More Last Chance" and "Go Rest High on That Mountain" were also honoured with new certifications.

Charlie Handsome's certified songs included "Wasted on You," "Last Night," "You Proof" and "Heartless."

The top honour for the highest-certified song of the year, the platinum anthem award, went to "Beautiful Crazy." Luke Combs, Rob Williford and Wyatt Durrette wrote the song, and Combs recorded it. It earned 15x Platinum certification in December 2025, meaning it passed fifteen times the Platinum threshold.

Other songs honoured were:

  • "Chasing You," recorded by Morgan Wallen, celebrated as Diamond.
  • "Before He Cheats," recorded by Carrie Underwood, celebrated as 11x Platinum.
  • "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" by Shaboozey, "Hurricane" by Luke Combs and Wallen's "Last Night," each celebrated as 12x Platinum.
  • Wallen's "Whiskey Glasses," celebrated as 13x Platinum.
  • "Jesus, Take the Wheel," written by Gordie Sampson, Hillary Lindsey and Brett James, honoured as 3x Platinum.

Certifications count units, a measure that combines album sales, single sales and streams converted into sales-equivalent figures. A single song can therefore pass a threshold many times over, and each step is a long run of listens. For the writers in the room, the plaques mark the work. For the publishers and crews who keep those catalogues running, they mark the songs still being played long after release.

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