Drake album becomes first to exceed 1 billion streams
Drake’s Views has become the first album to exceed 1 billion streams on Apple Music.
He was presented with a commemorative plaque by Apple CEO Tim Cook backstage at his show in San Jose, California. A photo of the presentation was posted by the Canadian rapper on his Instagram account.
Views was released as an Apple Music exclusive for a week in April. In its first five days, it generated over 250 million streams and 1 million iTunes sales.
Views continues to generate consumer interest, It’s gone back to #1 in the United States, for its 13th week on top. It’s sold 1.4 million copies Stateside.
Drake and Apple Music have had a long relationship, back to when he was one of those who helped launch the service in mid-2015. Since then, they’ve teamed up for a concert tour and Apple paid for the making of the Hotline Bling video.
The partnership continues with the release this week, ahead of schedule, of the short movie Please Forgive Me as an Apple Music exclusive.
The 23-minute film begins with Drake’s girlfriend (played by Belgian model Fanny Neguesha) offered $1 million by a wealthy businessman to spend the night with him. Instead, Drake and his girlfriend decide to disappear with the money
Inspired by Views, it was filmed in Soweto township in Johannesburg, South Africa. It includes some songs from Views and new music from his producer Noah “40” Shebib.
The film was directed by the rapper’s video maker, Anthony Mandler, who also co-wrote the script with Apple Music’s Head of Content, Larry Jackson.