Kanye West is officially the first artist to have an album go #1 with a number based entirely on streaming from the major outlets. There were some paid album downloads for The Life of Pablo from the G.O.O.D/Def Jam star’s own website, but the overwhelming majority of the 90k+ earned came from streaming services, including Apple Music, Spotify and Tidal.
This unprecedented strategy was crafted with Kanye by new manager Scooter Braun, Steve Bartels and Team Def Jam. Meanwhile, Ye can also be seen atop the iTunes singles chart, thanks to his collaboration with Drake on “Pop Style.”
Although sales will likely account for a minuscule piece of his total (The Life of Pablo is for sale only on his website), Kanye West may be a contender for #1 on our next Sales + Plus Streaming (SPS) chart. Since going wide to Spotify, Apple Music and other services last week, preliminary data suggests Pablo (G.O.O.D./Def Jam) is on track for some 90m streams, which would put him at 60k+ SEA.
This would, as far as we know, be the first time an album hit #1 SPS with virtually no sales—a benchmark for the new era.
Controversy is said to be swirling around the question of how any sales Kanye's website generates will or won't be reported, causing some drama at the Industry Bible regarding whether the album would be eligible to chart.
Rap legend come thru! #1 contender if the streams are reported, and Billboard accepts a streaming-only album.