Animal Collective's cultural peak was unquestionably 2009, when their eighth album Merriweather Post Pavilion managed to overshadow everything else on year-end lists in a crowded year for indie-rock breakthroughs including Phoenix, Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projectors, and the xx.

But they still retained kind of an outsider status while Phoenix and the xx went on to become festival giants, Yeah Yeah Yeahs got interpolated on Beyoncé's epochal Lemonade, and Dirty Projectors' Dave Longstreth ended up co-writing and playing on the Paul McCartney, Rihanna, and Kanye song. AnCo still command a large indie-rock audience, but they never really exploded out of that world the way that, say, Tame Impala or Four Tet did.

So it's at least somewhat of a shock that their most popular (and danceable) song, "My Girls", has been certified Gold by the RIAA in early 2026. That means combined sales and streaming equaled about 500,000 units moved. It's also quite fun that this achievement was awarded to the song that goes "I don't mean to seem like I care about material things." Let's see if they still feel that way when they get their gold record plaques.

Revisit "My Girls" below and party like it's 2-0-0-9.