Late singer-songwriter Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's 1993 album "Facing Future" has become the first Hawaiian music album to sell a million units in the United States.

The album, which features Kamakawiwo'ole's medley of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow/What A Wonderful World," was certified platinum this week by the Recording Industry Association of America, according to its Honolulu-based label, The Mountain Apple Company/Big Boy Records. Platinum awards go to albums that have sold a million or more copies nationally.

"Facing Future" was certified gold for sales of 500,000 in 2002.

Sales of the album — released four years before Kamakawiwo'ole's June 1997 death — rose quickly in recent years, as the "Over The Rainbow" medley was licensed for use in dozens of films, television programs and commercials worldwide.

The album's late 2003 addition to Apple's iTunes online music store also boosted sales. "Somewhere Over The Rainbow/What A Wonderful World" from "Facing Future" and "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" from Kamakawiwo'ole's posthumous 2001 CD "Alone In Iz World" are currently No. 1 and No. 2 on the iTunes world music singles sales chart.

"What a trip, huh?" said Jon de Mello, owner/CEO of Mountain Apple and co-producer of "Facing Future." "It's been warming up to this. We knew it was coming, but when it slaps you in the face it's like, 'Whoa!'

"It means that Israel is alive and well on the world planet. His voice, somehow, spoke to everyone. People found it. It's in the track. It's in the music. ... He wouldn't have believed this."

Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com.