DRAKE BECOMES SPOTIFY’S FIRST 10 BILLION STREAMS ARTIST

Even before More Life dropped on Saturday (March 18), Spotify revealed that Drake had become the first act to hit 10 billion streams on the platform.

Much of that success came through Views, his massively popular 2016 album that spawned a series of hits, including “One Dance,” which garnered 1.15 billion streams, according to Forbes.

Other Views smashes have also helped Drizzy attain his new accolade. “Hotline Bling” was played 600 million times. “Too Good” was played 520 million times. Meanwhile, “Controlla” garnered 340 million streams.

As a whole, Views tracks have earned two billion streams in less than a year with Drake’s back catalog making up the rest of his total, but none of these figures reflect Saturday’s More Life release.

Those numbers are particularly impressive given Drake’s Apple Music ties. Not only has he released temporarily exclusive material through a reported $19 million Apple deal, but he’s also premiered much of his new material through his Beats 1 program OVOSOUND Radio. That exclusivity has likely helped Apple — Views was its first album to reach one billion streams — but it clearly hasn’t significantly hindered his Spotify prominence.

The 6 God’s streaming stats are likely to get a boost this week across all platforms, thanks to the release of More Life. Premiered Saturday on OVOSOUND, the playlist project features collaborations with Kanye West, Travis Scott, Young Thug, 2 Chainz, PARTYNEXTDOOR, and more.