This is impressive.
MBW reported yesterday (March 19) that The Weeknd’s new album, After Hours, had racked up a record 975,000 global ‘pre-adds’ on Apple Music ahead of its release today (March 20).
Now, we’ve received a big update: After Hours, released via XO/Republic, actually surpassed a million pre-adds on the service by the time of its release. (Over 1.02m, to be more precise.)
That shatters the previous record for pre-adds (Apple Music‘s equivalent of traditional pre-orders) held by Billie Eilish’s When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? which was released on Darkroom/Interscope in March last year.
This is huge news for The Weeknd and his team at XO – including Wassim Sal Slaiby (CEO), Amir Cash Esmailian (President A&R) and Lamar Taylor (Head of Creative) – not to mention XO’s record company partner at Republic.
“Let the music heal us during these dark times.”
The Weeknd (aka Abel Tesfaye)
It’s also exactly the kind of positive news the wider music business could do with right now, following a tough couple of weeks due to you-know-what.
When MBW approached The Weeknd (aka Abel Tesfaye) for a quote, having confirmed his million-plus achievement today, he delivered a simple, pertinent statement in reply: “Let the music heal us during these dark times.”
Wise words.
After Hours contains the singles Heartless – which reached No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 towards the end of last year – as well as Blinding Lights, which has claimed the No.1 spot in multiple regions around the world including the UK, Germany, Australia and France.
The Weeknd’s collaborators on the 14-track After Hours album include Max Martin, Metro Boomin, Illangelo, DaHeala and Dre Moon.
It’s the Canadian’s first album release since 2016’s Starboy, which has attracted streams in the multiple billions.Music Business Worldwide
