Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Double threat: Drake breaks Spotify record, while ‘Views’ started exclusively on Apple

ai generates new music birmingham drake video
YouTube
Drake is the new king of Spotify, having toppled fellow Canadian popster Justin Bieber for the most all-time plays ever on the service this week. Drake‘s music has been listened to over 3.2 billion times on the streaming platform, according to music data tracker Kworb, pushing past Bieber’s number by around 30 million streams.

The rapper, who just released his latest smash record Views late last month, hit the new record despite the fact that his new album was an Apple Music exclusive until this past weekend — one which also set the all time record for most plays in a debut week.

Recommended Videos

Still, Bieber is no slouch with more than 3.176 billion individual plays compared to Drake’s 3.21 billion. Ed Sheeran comes in third on the most-streamed list, with just over two billion plays. Top women on the list include Ariana Grande and Rihanna, who have each amassed around 1.5 billion plays.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Spotify has been racking up massive numbers for big pop artists for years, with over twenty musicians that have now broken the billion-play mark on the service. And this year should see several other additions to that club, with artists like Pitbull and Selena Gomez around 50 million plays away from the billion club.

As the service continues to build on its already industry-topping subscriber base, play counts will probably only continue to skyrocket, but it remains to be seen how the increasing crop of exclusive releases to services like Apple Music and Tidal will affect Spotify’s play counts for particular musicians long term. So far, the competition doesn’t seem to have hurt the service much, especially given that most major releases arrive at Spotify shortly after they debut on other streaming sites.

Updated on 05-18-2016 by Parker HallUpdated to reflect the fact that Drake’s Views is now available on Spotify.

Parker Hall
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Parker Hall is a writer and musician from Portland, OR. He is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin…
What is spatial audio? The 3D sound experience fully explained
Person listening to spatial audio using Apple AirPods Max headphones.

Since Apple added “spatial audio” to the Apple Music streaming service and the AirPods family of wireless earbuds and headphones in 2021, it feels like you can’t read about new audio products or services without running into that term. And just a few short years later, it’s seemingly everywhere.

This has led to a lot of misconceptions about what spatial audio is, how it works, and why you need to hear it for yourself. People often ask, “If Apple created spatial audio, why are other companies claiming they do it, too?” The answer is that Apple didn’t create it, and you certainly don’t need to own its products to experience spatial audio.

Read more
How to download music from SoundCloud on desktop and mobile
Soundcloud Interface on a Macbook.

If you’re a huge music fan, you’ve probably combed through the many playlists, artists, and albums of your Spotify or Apple Music subscription. But what about all the indie artists of the world? Some music-streaming platforms are better than others at celebrating the
‘unsung gem’ acts, but one of the most reliable forums for new, off-the-grid tunes is SoundCloud.

Founded in 2007, SoundCloud has always prioritized music that’s a bit under the radar. With over 320 million tracks in its library, the platform will even let you download a majority of its songs and albums.

Read more
The best kids headphones of 2024: for fun, safety, and sound
Two kids using the Puro Sound PuroQuiet Plus to watch something on a tablet.

Kid-friendly consumer tech is all the rage these days, so it’s no surprise that there’s an entire market of headphones designed exclusively for young ones. But when we think “kid-friendly,” sometimes we imagine products that are built to be a bit more throwaway than their adult counterparts. That’s not the case with the products on our list of the best headphones for kids, though.

We want our child-tailored headphones to include parental-controlled volume limiters, to ensure our children aren’t harming their eardrums. Pretty much every entry on our list checks this vital box, but we also wanted to point you and yours toward products that offer exceptional noise-canceling, built-in mics for phone and video calls, and long-lasting batteries for schooldays or a long flight.

Read more