Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign's VULTURES 1 is still getting plenty of play, despite how streaming platforms were not so quick to promote it. Moreover, Ye published a video on his Instagram Story of his full-length collaborator remarking on how Apple Music never featured them on most of their promotional features on their page for new releases, which they typically do for almost all big releases. Yet "CARNIVAL" with Rich The Kid and Playboi Carti is the highest-charting song on Apple Music right now. Given that the album went No. 1 on Billboard for another week after its release, this consistent commercial success is unsurprising.
However, it's also important to note that Kanye West is not only one of the biggest artists alive -– and thus needs no promotion to make a splash -– but that the duo devised a promotional strategy of their own. Their Vultures listening parties across the U.S. and Europe netted them heaps of cash and built up the album across a couple of months of hype. In addition, we have Ye's antisemitic crusade to consider as a massive and sadly unfinished story that boosted this collaboration's profile. It's very understandable that streaming services didn't promote it at every turn, but equally unsurprising is how their notoriety and reach sidestepped that.
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Kanye West & Ty Dolla Sign Flaunt Their No. 1 Despite Apple Music's Lack Of Promo
Another factor to consider is that across February, whether or not you could listen to VULTURES 1 depended on which streamer you used and what day you tried to play it. The album disappeared from Spotify and Apple Music multiple times thanks mostly to distribution difficulties, as well as sample clearance issues that already plagued the release. Whether or not you find its commercial success in spite of this to be impressive or a sad reality probably depends on whether you buy into the controversies attached to it. Regardless, Kanye West and Ty Dolla Sign fought their way in with loads of fans behind them.
Meanwhile, with two more installments set for release (which we aren't holding our breath on considering the chaotic launch of the first one) and a Ye solo album facing conflicting reports, who knows what they'll do in March? VULTURES 2, plus 3 in April, could be better than the first one, or it could be just as divisive. But odds are that whatever long-form effort they drop will still hit big. For more news and the latest updates on Kanye West, Ty Dolla Sign, and Vultures, stick around on HNHH.