Since the June 29 release of Drake’s new album, Scorpion, the project has already accumulated a long list of sales records.
During its opening weekend, the album earned 10 million Spotify streams per hourwhile breaking the service’s record for most opening-day streams. Simultaneously, it also broke Apple Music’s record for most single-day streams. Then, just three days after it dropped, Scorpion had already broken the one-week U.S. streaming record.
The 25-song project also went platinum on the day it was released.
Before Scorpion was released, it was already eligible for platinum certification by the RIAA due to the success of “God’s Plan” and “Nice For What.” Ten track units equal one album sale, and the two songs had moved more than 10 million equivalent units, so the project already had more than the one million equivalent units it needed to become platinum.
Some artists don’t submit their albums for certification right away, but Drake’s team had the album ready to be certified on the day of its release: RIAA’s website lists the platinum certification as taking place on June 29, 2018.
While they do contribute to platinum certification, the streams for “God’s Plan” and “Nice For What” will not count towards Drake’s first-week sales numbers. The first week numbers for Scorpion are currently being projected in the 725-775,000 range.
Platinum certifications seem to be flying at Drake left and right these days. Tuesday evening, Lil Baby revealed that their collaborative single “Yes Indeed” had received the honor as well.
complex.com