Drake just made Apple Music streaming history by becoming the first featured artist to collect over Ten Billion streams. His latest double-album Scorpion undoubtedly pushed him into unprecedented territory; numbers that will surely proliferate over time.
Placing a distant second are a host of "less prolific" artists which have cleared the One Billion mark, a list that includes Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Adele, Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj, and Cardi B, the latter making the ascent on a more festive platform. It's worth nothing that Cardi reached the milestone faster than other female artist, and there are many occupying top rank at the moment.
News of Drake's accomplishment kind of offsets the report he was losing out on exposure and $ by restricting the physical presence of Scorpion in record stores. Then again, it's hard to take stock of all factors, and were we not led to believe CD sales were a thing of the past? Holding a mainstream rap artist like Drake to his word, and forcing him to expand his distribution makes little sense.
The bulk of spending in record stores is done by niche collectors looking for "endangered" copies. Drake's 10 Billion milestone makes the decision all the more easy, especially considering his music only vaguely taps into the vinyl collectors market.