Drake isn't the only artist breaking streaming records: Kanye West's record label Def Jam is claiming his latest album, The Life of Pablo, is the first streaming-only LP to be certified platinum.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) confirmed Tuesday that West's seventh solo studio album (and eighth overall including the Jay Z collaboration Watch the Throne ) has reached the equivalent of 1 million copies sold:
It's official. #TLOP is @KanyeWest's eighth RIAA Platinum (or higher) album! @DefJamRecords 💿 pic.twitter.com/NhDMNrxR5v
— RIAA (@RIAA) April 4, 2017
The RIAA recognizes 1,500 on-demand streams from a single album as the equivalent of one album sold.
Def Jam said Tuesday that TLOP has been streamed three billion times worldwide since it was released in February 2016 and is crediting it as the first ever streaming-only record to go platinum.
Related: Drake is Spotify's Most Popular Artist of 2016
West initially released the album as a Tidal exclusive. He serviced it to the likes of Spotify and Apple Music in April 2016, two months after its Tidal release.
However, as Billboard points out, West did briefly sell a digital download of the entire album through Tidal and his own website last April. A download of the album remains active on his website.
The wide release of TLOP on all streaming services, as well as the digital downloads, in April helped West land his seventh No.1 atop the Billboard 200 album chart. The set topped the chart with 94,000 album equivalent units, which broke down to 28,000 digital downloads sold and nearly 100 million streams.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
