NMPA Honors Top Songwriters and Publishers at Annual Gold & Platinum Gala In Nashville

Last night, the top country songwriters and publishers from the past year gathered at City Winery Nashville to receive their NMPA Gold & Platinum Program honors.

Over 70 Gold, Platinum and Multi-Platinum honorees including Josh Osborne, Rhett Akins, Dallas Davidson, busbee, Brett James and many others were awarded at this year's Gala.

Songwriters CJ Solar, Brad Clawson and Michael Hardy performed their Gold-certified single Up Down by Morgan Wallen, and Corey Crowder and Josh Hoge played their 2x Multi-Platinum hit I'm Comin' Over by Chris Young.

NMPA announced three top honors: Top Songwriter, Top Publisher and the Platinum Anthem Award for the top certified song released in the past year.

The Top Songwriter of the year was Shane McAnally, published by SMACKSongs, who earned a total of eighteen certifications for hits Body Like A Back Road, Take Your Time, Drinkin' Problem andUnforgettable. Shane's husband Michael accepted the award.

The Top Publisher was Warner/Chappell Music Publishing, which earned 99 total certifications- 26 Multi-Platinum, 26 Platinum, and 48 Gold. Warner/Chappell Nashville President Ben Vaughn and his team accepted the award.

The Platinum Anthem Award went to Meant To Be, which was written by Bebe Rexha, Tyler Hubbard, Josh Miller and David Garcia. Songwriter Josh Miller accepted the award along with his publishers at Cornman Music.

NMPA President & CEO David Israelite kicked off the event saying the NMPA Gold & Platinum Awards are the only honors calculated solely on consumption and are therefore the definitive marker of a song's success. Mitch Glazier, RIAA President and incoming CEO, was on hand to commend the songwriters for their contributions and note that the companion RIAA Gold & Platinum Program is celebrating its 60thanniversary this year.

Launched in 2007, in partnership with the RIAA's Gold & Platinum Program, the NMPA Gold & Platinum Program identifies and certifies the songwriters and publishers of RIAA-certified singles. RIAA counts both sales and on-demand streams towards its Gold (500K), Platinum (1M) and Multi-Platinum (2M+) thresholds.