The Life of Pablo is the latest album by Kanye West to go to No. 1. Billboard reported on April 10, 2016, that it was the number one album on its 200 Chart. The release sold 94,000 albums for the last full week that ended April 7.
These albums are not necessarily what are considered to be pure, as the term album is generally used. In the industry, there are also what are termed “album equivalents.” These include the streaming equivalent sales.
What makes West’s feat even more of an event is that, according to Billboard, his album 70 percent of its sales were in the streaming format. This is the first time any album has achieved more than half its sales in this format. It had 99 million streams in the United States.
On April 1, the 38-year-old rapper’s latest album was released widely through the streaming media format. Before The Life of Pablo, on February 13, West’s streaming debut was Tidal.
Billboard further reported that Rihanna’s album, Anti was the previous streaming media victor, as recently as the April 2, top 200 Chart release. In the short interim time, West outperformed her, now-meager 54,000 total sold, in streaming media units.
By Bob Reinhard
Edited by Jeanette Smith
Sources:
BillboardBiz: Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo’ Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Chart
Photo Courtesy of Pieter-Jannick Dijkstra’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
