The fact that Drake’s new album debuted at number one shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, but just how well it performed in its first week is rather shocking.
Drake’s Views shifted 1.04 million equivalent album units this week, which is huge. In one week, Drake’s latest has claimed the titles of both the largest debut of the year and the fastest-moving album thus far in 2016. The latter accomplishment is true when looking at both sales alone and when taking into account the new methodology that includes streaming and sales of individual tracks. No matter how you spin it, Views is the biggest of 2016.
Views is also the first album of 2016 to pass the one million mark in terms of equivalent albums moved. The last title to shift more than a million units in a single sales frame was Adele’s 25, which ended up pushing well past the 3 million mark back in November. She actually sold far more than one million copies in a week (two, actually), whereas Drake’s 1.04 million includes sales, streams, and single purchases.
The actual album sales were originally reported at 851,000, but the final tally rose ever so slightly to 852,000. Streaming-wise, Views smashed the competition to pieces. The album’s tracks received an incredible 245 million streams, which is the most any album has ever received.
