Cole Swindell gathered a crowd at Seen, a nightclub in downtown Nashville earlier this week, to tape a few songs for the CMT Listen Up performance series. At least that's all he thought was going down when he took the stage before the excited audience.

But his label, Warner Music Nashville, had other plans, and the singer was surprised with two plaques from his team -- one commemorating the RIAA's gold certification of his single "Chillin' It" and another celebrating its platinum status.

Yep, "Chillin' It" was such a hit, the Georgia native didn't even have time to celebrate the track going gold for 500,000 downloads and streams before learning it had hit the 1-million level for platinum certification.

"You only get a first single once," Swindell told the crowd. "The fact that it was accepted by not only radio but over 1 million fans is beyond anything I could ever have dreamed up. This is something I will never forget."

What a way to start the party! The crowd cheered him on as he moved through a high energy set of songs from his self-titled debut album, including "Chillin' It" and his current single, "Hope You Get Lonely Tonight."

Swindell is currently on the road with his buddy and mentor Luke Bryan. He's one of a handful of newcomers appearing this year in the CMT Listen Up series which spotlights upcoming artists through exclusive videos, performances and interviews.

Look for all the exclusive footage with Swindell to hit CMT.com in the near future.