It may not be the critically acclaimed “classic” we were all waiting on, but Drake’s VIEWS has certainly turned out to be a commercial monster nevertheless.
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The album has already topped the Billboard 200 for what seems like half the year (it’s back at No. 1 for the 13th time this week), been certified triple platinum and put Drake into territory occupied by the likes of Michael Jackson and Eminem as far as chart achievements go.
And now Aubrey has another milestone to brag about: VIEWS is the first album to rack up over a billion streams on Apple Music.
Drake announced his latest achievement on Instagram with a picture of a commemorative plaque signed by Apple CEO himself, Tim Cook. The post came just hours after Drizzy debuted his blockbuster short film, Please Forgive Me, exclusively on Apple Music, which will no doubt boost his stats even further.
It’s worth pointing out, however, this doesn’t mean VIEWS was streamed front-to-back a billion times, but the individual songs off the album — particularly hits like “Hotline Bling” and “One Dance” — racked up a total of one billion streams between them. Which further highlights the weird correlation between streaming data and traditional barometers of success in 2016.
