Drake hits 1 billion streams in a week, accounts for 5% of Toronto tourism

Drake’s Scorpion album continues to set new records. He has put the ‘b’ into global first-week sales.

Its 25 tracks racked up 1 billion streams on all streaming platforms out of the box according to Billboard, making his #1 debut in the US a foregone conclusion.

Drake celebrated the historic milestone on Instagram. “New era. New platinum. Thank you a billion times over (a billion plus),” he posted.

What is remarkable is how the Canadian rap superstar has demolished the old record – something which must even have astonished someone who’s been setting scores of new sales and chart achievements.

The last first-week leader, Post Malone’s beerbongs & bentleys reached 700 million.

As reported in TMN last week, Scorpion also trumped beerbongs & bentleys’ achievements in the US alone, with 435 million streams.

In the meantime, Drake’s global popularity has also leaked over to his hometown Toronto.

Marketing and branding consultant Gordon Hendren estimates that Drake’s continual promotion of the city (in interviews as well as in lyrics, videos and record covers), his support for the Toronto Raptors team and his various clubs and restaurants generates $440 million last year – accounting for 5% of Toronto’s tourism revenue of $8.8 billion.

“He’s helped to rebrand the city,” Hendren explained in a Vice News TV report.

“He’s kind of made himself the same as Toronto.”