NEWS: Ahead Of "More Life," Drake Hits Record 10 Billion Streams On Spotify

Ahead Of "More Life," Drake Hits Record 10 Billion Streams On Spotify

IT'S A CANADIAN TING EH!

Drake is going into his new release with a strong lead on the competition.

Drake has become the very first artist to earn 10 billion streams on Spotify. Much of that figure can be attributed to the Toronto rapper's 4th studio album VIEWS, which has achieved over 2 billion streams on its own, according to Forbes. "One Dance," which became Drizzy's very first Hot 100 no. 1 last year, has over 1 billion plays to its name.

The Forbes article predicts that another artist will hit the 10 billion milestone in a matter of time, though Drake is expected to be in the 15 or even 20 billion-stream range by then.

This news comes shortly before Drake will release his new project (which he has billed as a "playlist") More Life. The project is expected to be released on all major streaming services simultaneously, rather than exclusively on Apple Music, as the rapper has done in the past. In other words, Drizzy should be putting some big numbers up on Spotify as early as this evening.

https://open.spotify.com/embed/album/1lXY618HWkwYKJWBRYR4MK

Earlier today, Drake revealed a new flower tattoo inspired by More Life. Revisit the many events that led to the release of the highly anticipated project with our More Life story tag.

Drake recently became the first artist to reach 10 billion streams on Spotify. Rather than shared as an Apple Music exclusive as Drake has done in the past, More Life will be available across all major streaming services.

NEWS: Spotify Has Reached 50 Million Subscribers

Spotify Has Reached 50 Million Subscribers

Thank you to our 50 million subscribers. #Spotify50 pic.twitter.com/eXkOV71bwu

— Spotify (@Spotify) March 2, 2017

Your move, Apple Music.

Even though Spotify has been the largest streaming service for some time, but that hasn’t slowed down their growth. The Sweden-based company announced they had 30 million paying subscriber last March, and have already nearly doubled that in a year’s time according to yesterday's tweet announcement. So much for plateauing.

Meanwhile, Apple Music announced it had 20 million paying subscribers as of December of 2016, so even if they outpaced their earlier 1 million-per-month growth rate, they’d still be way behind Spotify. Of course, Apple Music has one thing Spotify does’t: money. Spotify hasn’t been profitable any year of its existence, and while Apple Music isn’t profitable either, they have their parent company Apple’s insane cash reserves to keep them going indefinitely.

Spotify has been rumored to be preparing to go public this year, which should greatly boost their cash reserves. They recently began testing a high fidelity lossless audio option to rival TIDAL’s. 

STREAM: Future - Hndrxx [Album Stream]

Future - Hndrxx [Album Stream]

https://open.spotify.com/embed/album/1P8NvRvykmDrKyfglMerMv

NEWS: Chance The Rapper's Spotify Streams Up 206% Since Grammys

Chance The Rapper's Spotify Streams Up 206% Since Grammys

Chance keeps winning.

The incredible glow up of Chance the Rapper continued Sunday night at the 59th Grammys. Chance took home Best Rap Performance for “No Problem,” Best New Artist, and Best Rap Album for Coloring Book. The cherry on top: his performance of “How Great” and “All We Got" with Kirk Franklin and a full gospel choir.

Not only is Chance currently basking in the glory of last night's victories, he is already reaping quantifiable rewards. According to The Boombox, his Spotify streaming numbers have increased 206 percent since the Grammys. "How Great" streams skyrocketed by 461 percent one hour after Chance took the stage.

He wasn't the only artist to receive a streaming boost from the Grammys: Streams of A Tribe Called Quest‘s “We The People” increased 441 after they performed the track with Anderson .Paak and Busta Rhymes.

NEWS: Drake’s New Mixtape Breaks Spotify Record

Drake’s New Mixtape Breaks Spotify Record

Drake's surprise mixtape broke the Spotify record for most album streams in its opening week.

If you’re reading this, then its not too late to find out that Drake broke another record for his surprise project last week.

After selling a whopping 497,602 units in the opening week, it’s now being reported that Drake broke a Spotify record for most album streams as well. Doing 17.3 million streams within a 3-day span, this feat set the record for the most streams for an album in its debut week in the U.S. But wait, there’s more. The project also broke the record for most streams in a day for an album as well, doing 6.8 million streams on Saturday, February 14th.

However, this isn’t Drizzy first go around with a record-setting album. Back in 2013, Nothing Was the Same received the same accolade as above with 15.8 million streams the week it opened, meaning Drake just broke his own record.

If you haven't yet, be sure to read our review of the album here, and stream that bish right here.

[Via Billboard]

NEWS: J Cole’s ’2014 Forest Hills Drive’ Has Largest First Week Sales For A Hip-Hop Album In 2014

J Cole’s ’2014 Forest Hills Drive’ Has Largest First Week Sales For A Hip-Hop Album In 2014

Cole World. J Cole’s 2014 Forest Hills Drive has had the largest first week sales for a hip-hop album in 2014, and it’s not even close. The album that previously held the crown was Rick Ross’s Mastermind, which moved 179,000 in its first week. Cole’s album doubled what Mastermind did in its first week, moving a whopping 361,000 units of his third studio album. In addition to having the largest first-week sales for a hip-hop album this year, 2014 Forest Hills Drive broke a Spotify record as well, according to his record label.

2014 FHD was streamed 15.7 million times in it's first week! Breaking One Direction Spotify record of 11.5 million. Congrats @JColeNC!

— Dreamville (@Dreamville) December 17, 2014

 2014 Forest Hills Drive has the highest selling debut week for a hip-hop album since Eminem’s Marshall Mathers LP 2, which sold 792,000 in its first week. What makes the amount of sales particularly notable is the fact that no one knew about the album until about a month ago; there was little promotion and no radio singles. Congratulations to Cole and his fans.

There is only one other rap album in the Top 50 this week: Eminem’s Shady XV album, a compilation of his Shady Records artists, which grabbed the No. 39 slot by moving 16,406 copies.

Outside of the rap world, K. Michelle lands her second Top 10 album with Anybody Wanna Buy A Heart, which grabbed the No. 6 spot this week with 83,404 sales. Most interestingly, the album contains a song titled “Drake Would Love Me.” Mary J. Blige’s The London Sessions dropped to No. 23 this week after debuting at No. 9 last week. To round things out, Chris Brown’s X grabbed the No. 37 spot this week, moving 16,794 copies.

Despite the amazing sales that 2014 Forest Hills Drive put up this week, its reign as the highest-selling debut week for a hip-hop album may only last a week. Nicki Minaj’s The Pinkprint dropped this week, and the numbers will be out next week. The album will undoubtedly give Cole’s album a run for its money for the best debut week sales title. Do you think Nicki will take the crown for 2014? Hit the comments below.

1. J Cole, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, 361,120

6. K. Michelle, Anybody Wanna Buy A Heart?, 83,404

23. Mary J. Blige, The London Sessions, 25,604

37. Chris Brown, X, 16,794

39. Eminem, Shady XV, 16,406

NEWS: Spotify Names Their Most Popular Artists & Songs Of The Year, Pharrell Wins Big

Spotify Names Their Most Popular Artists & Songs Of The Year, Pharrell Wins Big

Spotify breaks down the most popular music of the year on their service, and Pharell, Eminem, Iggy Azalea, Ariana Grande and Beyoncé are among those included.

By now, it's no secret that streaming giant Spotify has eclipsed nearly every other comparable service in its field, so its new list of the "top" (or most popular) music of the year is probably one of the best gauges of America's listening habits that we have. Including categories for male and female artists, albums and songs, the list includes several artists from the hip-hop/R&B world (alright, mostly the R&B one).

Check out the lists below.

Top Male Artist:

1. Ed Sheeran

2. Eminem

3. Calvin Harris

4. Avicii

5. David Guetta

Top Female Artist:

1. Katy Perry

2. Ariana Grande

3. Lana Del Rey

4. Beyonce

5. Lorde

Top Album:

1. Ed Sheeran — x

2. Sam Smith — In the Lonely Hour

3. Iggy Azalea — The New Classic

4. Pharrell — G I R L

5. Ariana Grande — My Everything

Top Songs:

1. Pharrell — “Happy”

2. Clean Bandit Feat. Jess Glynne — “Rather Be”

3. Calvin Harris — “Summer”

4. Katy Perry — “Dark Horse”

5. John Legend — “All of Me:

6. Pitbull — “Timber”

7. Magic — “Rude”

8. Mr. Probz — “Waves”

9. Ariana Grande — “Problem”

10. OneRepublic — “Counting Stars”

Are any of these surprising to you? Let us know with some comments