Kanye West
made history on Sunday as the creator of the first album to reach number
one in the United States mostly through streaming.
The feat was the latest turn in a highly unusual release for his album The Life of Pablo.
The
38-year-old rap star debuted his seventh album in February at his
Yeezy Season 3 fashion show at New York's Madison Square Garden and
initially distributed it only through the Tidal streaming service.
Number one: Kanye West appeared to be
in a good mond on Sundway upon arriving at Heathrow Airport in London as
his new album Life Of Pablo reached the top of the Billboard chart
The
album earlier this month became available on rival sites such as
Spotify and has been streamed so much that it appeared for the first
time on the benchmark Billboard chart.
The Life Of Pablo nearly two months after its release opened at number one on the Billboard chart.
Tracking
service Nielsen Service said that The Life Of Pablo sold the equivalent
of 94,000 copies in the week though Thursday, 70 percent through
streaming - the fast-growing sector of unlimited, on-demand music
online.
West far exceeds the previous record for the level of streaming behind a number one album.
Slow burn: The Life Of Pablo reached the top of the Billboard charts two months after its release
I also wanted to point out that it’s the first album to go number 1 off of streaming!!!— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 9, 2016
The former record was set recently by Rihanna with streaming accounting for nearly a third of the sales of her Anti album.
Both
West and Rihanna are partners in Tidal, the streaming service led by
rap mogul Jay-Z that has billed itself as aimed at artists and
audiophiles.
But
Tidal remains much smaller than its rivals and, for reasons that remain
unclear, it did not report initial figures in February for The Life Of
Pablo to Nielsen Music.
Seventh album: Kanye debuted Life Of Pablo in February at Madison Square Garden in New York City
The Life Of Pablo became the seventh of West's albums to reach number one like all of his previous albums.
While
West has relented on releasing the album to other streaming sites, he
still does not sell it on CD, vinyl or Apple's iTunes - a rare
commercial move even amid the growth of streaming.
But
he has made it available for download purchase both through Tidal and
his own website, accounting for non-streaming sales in the past week.
Fashion show: The Life Of Pablo album listening coincided with Kanye's Yeezy Season 3 fashion show
It
is the seventh number one album for West, the husband of reality
television star Kim Kardashian, 35, who has likened himself to
Michelangelo, pursued a side career in fashion design and vowed to run
for president in 2020.
A
prolific user of Twitter, West encouraged fans to subscribe to Tidal
after revealing that he was $53 million in debt and needed money to
bring his 'beautiful ideas to the world.'
Breaking the traditional concept of an album release, he kept fine-tuning The Life Of Pablo even after it went live on Tidal.
Parade Magazine
in its latest What People Earn article estimated that Tidal founder
Jay-Z, real name Shawn Carter, makes about $56 million annually.
Making history: West, pictured on April
13, 2015, made history as the creator of the first album to reach number
one in the United States mostly through streaming
