Spotify, in earlier figures for 2016 so far, said that Drake was the most streamed artist for a second straight year - a ranking which does not change.ĭrake’s success on Spotify comes even though he has a close relationship with rival Apple, through which he released Views exclusively for its first week. The multi-platinum 3X GRAMMY Award winner has emerged as one of the most successful & significant artists of the modern era. Starboy, released just one year after The Weeknd’s breakthrough album Beauty Behind the Madness, is a sprawling work of R & B and electronica on which the singer collaborates with elusive French duo Daft Punk.ĭrake had been the biggest artist in terms of monthly listeners since May after the rapper released his long-awaited album Views, featuring viral hits such as One Dance and Hotline Bling. The Weeknd took over pop music & culture on his own terms filtering R&B, Pop,& hip-hop through an ambitious widescreen lens. At the time, it marked the second-best total. Following the release of Starboy, all 18 songs from the album charted on the Billboard Hot 100. Starboy still maintains a huge lead at over 2 billion views, therefore remaining at the top spot overall. In the US, it was the third-largest debut sales week of 2016, the second-biggest week for album streams ever (175.2 million streams, behind Drakes Views), and is the Weeknds second number one album. YouTube tells a very different story, however. In collaboration with Marvel, a Starboy comic was released that followed the story of The Weeknd’s persona in the city of Alphatron, and his fight against a tyrannical criminal titled The Chef. Spotify, releasing data late Saturday, also confirmed that Starboy broke the record for streams in its first week, with listeners playing it 223 million times. Less than a year after its release, Blinding Lights is on its way to take the crown from 2016 smash Starboy as the Weeknd‘s top streaming hit on Spotify. He edged out Drake - a fellow Torontonian who supported The Weeknd early in his career - who had just under 36 million monthly listeners.
The Weeknd, whose new album Starboy came out November 25, had close to 37.5 million listeners in November - more than one third of all Spotify users. In addition to Daft Punk, there are three more features, each of them highly intriguing.
The Weeknd has ended Drake’s long reign as king of Spotify, with the singer topping the rapper in monthly listeners on the world’s leading streaming service. And if you loved that record, this one will not disappoint.