Let’s be real: that scorching Pusha-T rap beef and swirling rumours of a secret child notwithstanding — or perhaps in so many ways driven by it — Aubrey Drake Graham’s 25 track-long sad boy confessional Scorpion was always destined to break the internet. It’s just what Drake does.
And Drake being Drake, he absolutely finessed the numbers game. The Verge reports that Scorpion handily shattered Apple Music’s single-day streaming record, racking up over 170 million streams within the first 24 hours of its release. Over on Spotify, which has comparatively lesser footing among hip-hop and rap streams, Drake’s latest still performed extremely well. The service reported more than 132 million streams of Scorpion in its first day, likely assisted by a strategic Drake “takeover” of its most popular playlists.
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yes, this is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen pic.twitter.com/WyzPrJpQ3B
— Rembert Browne (@rembert) June 29, 2018
Those are mammoth numbers — think about how many listens of the entire hour and a half double album must’ve been happening concurrently all throughout Friday to get these kinds of stats. The data suggests Scorpion has a shot at 1 billion streams across platforms by the end of its first week, easily toppling Post Malone’s Beerbongs and Bentleys’ standing record of 431 million.
Drake’s star power can’t be overstated here. On top of total streaming dominance, Scorpion already qualified for platinum certification before it was even released, coasting on the success of the album’s early singles: the easily memeable “God’s Plan,” the exuberant summer anthem “Nice For What,” and “I’m Upset,” which was paired with a nostalgia-laden video hearkening back to the rapper-singer’s Degrassi days.
Perhaps the news that Drake broke records doesn’t feel that shocking, especially since his last projects — the mixtape-playlist More Life and his fourth studio album, Views — also racked up tremendous streaming records and sales in their own right. In fact, the Apple Music streaming record Drake broke with Scorpion was his own from last year’s More Life.
And if you’ve logged online at all this weekend, evidence of Scorpion’s impressive performance is everywhere — that’s all anyone can seem to talk about, and from the album’s daunting tracklist to its Instagram caption potential, everyone has a take:
drake made an audio cvs receipt
— Desus Nice (@desusnice) June 29, 2018
drake needs a tough but fair editor who will cut 2500 words from his draft
— Stephanie Talmadge (@srtalmadge) June 29, 2018
drake 2008: hey pretty lady... u drive me crazy...
— jaboukie young-white (@jaboukie) June 29, 2018
drake 2018: I cannot trust anyone due to my wealth and fame. I don’t think any of my human interaction is genuine. Multiple people could very well be trying to kill me. turn up tho
more and more drake’s track names sound like, kat von d nail lip gloss names
— deaux (@dstfelix) June 28, 2018
But if you do find yourself wrapping up with your listen of Scorpion, or if you just finally need a break from Drake’s inner demons, don’t worry: there’s plenty more excellent music out this week to keep you busy.
It's wonderful to be putting music out into the world on the same day as you @Drake.
— florence welch (@flo_tweet) June 29, 2018
This is us back on our 1st.
Congratulations on your 5th, honoured to share my 4th birthday with you x x pic.twitter.com/C5uuskM9S0
Drake might be a solar eclipse — a supernova, honestly — but trust: the world keeps spinning.