Dublin singer-songwriter Gavin James has achieved a certified Diamond hit single with 'Always' in Brazil, where he is currently performing a slate of shows.

James released his third album The Sweetest Part in August, which reached No.1 on the official Irish chart and marked his second No.1 album in two years.

The Irish pop musician, who has over 22 platinum records in over 10 countries, has reached the unique certification of ‘Diamond’ status for his hit single ‘Always’ in Brazil. The song was a massive hit in the South American country, with the star performing the track on their TV Drama Pega Pega.

Gavin is current in Brazil on tour and returns next week for his Amsterdam headline show. He also teamed up with superstar DJ and producer Sam Feldt for their collaborative single 'Better' last Friday. The powerful chart-ready song is already heading towards a million streams.

Gavin will soon return to Ireland for a run of Irish days in Derry, Galway, Belfast, Sligo, Killarney and Wexford before heading back out to Switzerland, where a large faction of his audience is based.

For his worldwide fans, the Dubliner will soon be announcing a global tour for 2023.

“It’s bananas over in Switzerland,” he told Hot Press' Ed Power recently. “My first actual gig after all the live-streams during lockdown was a radio gig there in September. It was 40,000 people in a stadium [Bern’s Stadion Wankdorf]. We opened with ‘Always’, which got big during lockdown over there. It was mad. Everybody in the band was going, ‘This is insane’. And then I was like, ‘Oh, I’ve opened up with the big song… maybe we should have saved it’. But it was class.”

In addition to Switzerland, Gavin is also building a following in France – where a French-language version of ‘Always’ has gone down a storm on radio. James got through lockdown by abandoning an already half-finished LP, feeling it didn’t speak to the present moment, then fine-tuning material for The Sweetest Part.

'Always' landed back in 2018, and made James an even bigger streaming sensation following the release of 'Nervous (the Ooh Song)' and his debut album Bitter Pill in 2015. In March 2013 and March 2016, he won two Choice Music Prize Irish Song of the Year award.

In October 2020, James released his album, Boxes, which reached No.1 on the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) charts.

Revisit our July 2022 interview with Gavin James here.