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