in the UK in the 21st century. By November of that year, the album had sold 852,000 copies in the UK, ranking as West's highest selling album in the country. Late Registration reached numbers two and three on the Irish Albums Chart and Scottish Albums Chart, respectively, while it received a double platinum certification from the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) by the end of 2005 for pushing 30,000 units in Ireland. The album also charted within the top 10 in Norway, Greece, Switzerland, and Japan, as well as entering the European Top 100 Albums chart at number six. In 2021, Vibe reported that Late Registration became one of the rap albums released before 2010 to have been streamed one billion times through Spotify. Legacy and influence With the album's commercial success, West established himself as a recording artist in his own right outside of his earlier success with hip hop productions for other rappers. By surpassing the sales and acclaim of The College Dropout, Late Registration proved that "the Kanye West experiment was no longer an experiment, it was a business model", according to author Shea Serrano. He explained, "It helped revitalize sampling soul music, it stitched together pop music themes generally attributable to the easily ignorable 'conscious rap' quadrant ('Gold Digger' is secretly a clever examination of the effects money has on relationships), and it created a precedent for the larger-scale gazing he'd go on to do. Rap followed along right behind him." As The Ringer's Logan Murdock chronicles, Late Registration proved his unprecedented artistry and relentless ambition with "a story to tell, an underdog tale that the masses related to", particularly the black community. The journalist relates his own experience connecting with the music, recalling having been a fan of West at 12 years old in Oakland, California, recognizing "the same struggles [he] spoke about plaguing my own environment. Like West, I had educated parents and a stable home life, but was aware of the world around me. Like West, I struggled to get acceptance, living a double life." Released in the wake of Hurricane Katrina's destructive landfall on the US Gulf Coast, Late Registration was followed a few days later by West's appearance on the live telethon A Concert for Hurricane Relief. In a segment alongside actor Mike Myers, he made harsh remarks criticizing the US government's response to the storm and the media for lacking