Drake's 'Views' Album Changes The Definition Of What A Popular Album Should Look Like In The Streaming Age

By on July 9, 2016 in ArticlesMusic News

Drake has been killing it this year. His songs are playing pretty much everywhere you go this summer, the NBA All Star Game was in his hometown of Toronto, and most recently, research found that the Toronto native is actually worth roughly $3 billion to his hometown! Well, now you can add yet another line to his already impressive list of accomplishments this year, and this time it has to do with his latest album, formerly known as Views From The 6.

Drake's Views album has been atop the Billboard 200 chart for quite some time now – nine consecutive weeks to be exact. This marks the longest streak for an album atop the chart since Adele's 21 took the top spot on the charts for 10 consecutive weeks in 2012. Drake is also the first male artist to top the charts for nine straight weeks since 2004, when Usher did so in 2004 album, Confessions.

(Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Coachella)

(Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Coachella)

The most impressive, and unprecedented part, about Drake's reign atop the charts is the fact that the album has reached a majority of its numbers via streaming. Despite the fact that in its debut week, Views sold a whopping 852,000 physical copies, the number of people buying the album has tapered off significantly, with most people turning to streaming. This past week, while the album sold just 25,000 physical copies, it was streamed almost 100 million times, equalling a total of 110,000 album equivalent sales.

Drake's album is the first album to have such a long run at the top of the charts with such a significant portion of its numbers being made up of streaming since Billboard changed its charts to include streaming figures back in November 2014. Essentially, Drake has redefined the standards of what the numbers of a popular album are supposed to look like in the streaming age. Congrats to Drake for his accomplishment.

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