Kanye West’s The Life Of Pablo stormed to the top of the US album charts on Friday, driven by its performance on streaming services.
The album had been a complete TIDAL exclusive since mid-February until two weeks ago on Friday, April 1, when it appeared on the likes of Apple Music, Spotify and Google Play Music.
That shift was enough to give Kanye West the No.1 he was craving, but also meant he broke his promise: West previously tweeted that TLOP would “never never never be on Apple“.
It hit the top of the Billboard 200 on Friday (April 8), becoming the first album to do so predominantly off the strength of streaming.
According to Nielsen Music, it shifted 94,000 equivalent album units in the week ending April 7, with 66,000 of these sales – or 70% – coming from converted streaming activity.
(The Billboard 200 counts 1,500 streams on a recognised platform as an album ‘sale’.)
The album is available to buy via KanyeWest.com for $20.
These 66,000 ‘Streaming Equivalent Album’ units translate into just over 99 million US streams in the week ending April 7.
According to Nielsen rival BuzzAngle, The Life of Pablo accounted for one-third of the total streams which contributed to the Top 10 albums in the week.
The Life of Pablo is Kanye West’s seventh consecutive No. 1 album in the US market.Music Business Worldwide
