Drake’s ‘Views’ Becomes First Album to Reach 1 Billion Streams on Apple Music

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Canadian rapper Drake took to Instagram today to announce some big news. The rapper’s album “Views” became the first to surpass one billion streams on Apple Music.

The achievement was commemorated with a plaque that was presented to the artist, who was alongside his former manager Cortez Bryant, on Monday by Apple CEO Tim Cook and SVP of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue. Drake posted a photo of the award on his Instagram account earlier today.

 

???????? Thank you to everyone. OVO Sound to the ???? @applemusic

A photo posted by champagnepapi (@champagnepapi) on

Drake released “Views” as an Apple Music exclusive in April under Lil Wayne’s Young Money label. The album accrued more than 250 million streams and 1 million iTunes sales in its first five days of availability.

The record does not only mark an achievement for the Canadian rapper, it also marked a milestone for Apple Music. BuzzFeed interviewed Apple Music executive Jimmy Iovine, who gave his thoughts on the way the streaming music service has grown over the past year.

I don’t know how to do this any other way, except to help make really good music, get it exposed, and get it handled and treated the way it deserves to be treated. That’s the only thing that we know how to do coming from where we’re coming from. You use all the tools you have to do that.

We were too ambitious in the beginning — we probably put too much into it. But we’re getting there now, one foot in front of the other, and the stuff we’re creating I don’t think anyone is gonna see coming.

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During the interview Zane Lowe, who leads Apple Music’s radio station Beats 1, said:

“I think Apple Music is the place that helps artists tell their stories. It’s where artists can come and feel comfortable. And that’s not just on Beats 1, it’s through the releasing of their records, it’s through our editorial, through content, all sorts of ways.”

The partnership with Apple continued on Monday when Drake released the short film “Please Forgive Me” as an Apple Music exclusive.

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