Kanye West's 'Donda' Sets 2021 Apple Music Record With 60 Million First-Day Streams

Tuesday August 31, 2021 3:47 am PDT by Tim Hardwick

Kanye West's latest album has achieved a new high for most streamed pop album of 2021 on Apple Music after its delayed release on Sunday (via Billboard). "Donda" set a record for the most streams in a 24-window on the service this year, pulling in over 60 million plays in the United States.

kanye west
That makes "Donda" the third-most streamed album ever in the first 24 hours of a release. West's album also topped ‌Apple Music‌'s top albums charts in 152 countries in the same time span, setting another record.

J Cole's 2018 album "KOD" sits atop ‌Apple Music‌'s all-time debut chart with 64.5 million streams, followed by Drake's "Views," which courted around 63.5 million streams.

Following the arrival of "Donda" at the weekend, West claimed in an Instagram post that Universal, the parent company for Def Jam Recordings and West's G.O.O.D. Music imprint, put the album out without his approval.

The album was originally supposed to arrive in late July, but West delayed it to August 6, then again to August 22, before the album eventually appeared on ‌Apple Music‌ and Spotify the following week.

West held a public listening party for the album on July 22 at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Itended up breaking ‌‌Apple Music‌‌ livestreaming records with 3.3 million viewers tuning in. Even more ‌‌Apple Music‌‌ listeners participated in a second streaming event, which was held in Atlanta on August 5.

Tag: Apple Music Guide

Top Rated Comments

PlainviewX

27 months ago

32,000,000 were Kanye listening to himself.

Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)

WikiWikiWikiLeaks

I think I will have scrambled eggs with avocado this morning.

Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)

gymnastboatman

Hype over quality I heard the album and honestly it’s not good in anyway, but the hype as always sets records, it’s not about making a good album anymore

You mean you didn’t think it wasn’t good. I quite liked it, though I think I still prefer God is King. It’s just not getting coverage because it’s still a very Christian album, even though it isn’t a ‘Christian album’ like God is King was.

Obviously lots of people did like it, to get that many streams.
Or, alternatively, a ton of people wanted to see what Kanye would do after God is King. Lot of us around the world are excited to see Kanye’s conversion play out.

Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Kylo83

Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)

HappyDude20

It’s absurd how overrated Kanye is and has been for a looooooong while now.

Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Doodah7

It's a bloated, over-produced mess. If only he had someone to stand up to him and say that half of the album is simply filler rubbish. 1hour and 45 minutes!! Cut that in half and it the album might bear a second listen.

Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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