Duster Earns RIAA Gold for "Stars Will Fall"

The San Jose slowcore band Duster has received its first-ever RIAA certification, with the 1997 single "Stars Will Fall" officially certified Gold. The award, dated December 3, 2025, recognizes 500,000 certified units in the United States. The single is released via The Numero Group, which has handled the band's reissues and recent material.

"Stars Will Fall" was originally released on January 1, 1997, as the closing track on the band's debut EP, Transmission, Flux. Characterized by its dreamy and atmospheric sound, the song has become a staple of the shoegaze and slowcore genres. Decades after its initial release, the track found a new audience, becoming one of Duster's most-streamed songs with over 180 million plays on Spotify alone, contributing significantly to its eventual Gold status.

Duster, composed of members Clay Parton, Canaan Dove Amber, and Jason Albertini, formed in San Jose and developed a unique lo-fi sound by recording on cheap analog equipment in a home studio they called Low Earth Orbit. After releasing several influential albums, including 1998's Stratosphere, the band went on a long hiatus before reuniting in the late 2010s. Their return was met with renewed interest, solidifying their cult status and expanding their reach to a new generation of listeners, as evidenced by their current audience of over 3.3 million monthly Spotify listeners and more than 1.2 million followers on the platform.