All the early reports suggested that Drake's new album, VIEWS, was expected to do huge numbers, and Republic Records, the label primarily responsible for the album's distribution, has now verified those predictions. According to Republic, VIEWS has sold the equivalent (including streams) of 1.2 million copies in its first six days of release. Over a million of those sales came from the U.S. alone.
Though the full breakdown of those numbers is not yet available, Republic has reported that VIEWS was streamed upwards of 250 million times, 200 million of those streams coming from the U.S. Though the official certification from the RIAA has not come in yet, if Republic's numbers are correct, then VIEWS will have achieved platinum status in less than a week.
To make the numbers even more mind-boggling, every one of those streams is attributed to Apple Music, the only platform on which the album is available to stream. Released as an Apple exclusive, VIEWS has also been available in the iTunes store. Tomorrow (May 6), VIEWS will see a physical release, and the digital version will also be extended to other online retailers. Streaming-wise, it will stay tied to Apple Music until May 13, when it will move to Tidal, Spotify, and other platforms.
