Final Numbers Are In: Drake’s ‘More Life’ Sold…

Published: Sunday 26th Mar 2017 by Rashad

Nabbing 2016’s best-selling release in the form of his blockbuster LP, ‘Views,’ was quite the double edged sword for rapper Drake.  On one hand, the Grammy-nominated set laid claim to the impressive title by beating out some of music’s biggest names (Beyonce, Rihanna, Kanye West, etc), but on the other hand the pressure was on its successor to match or surpass its impressive stats.

Now, after a full tracking week of his latest effort – ‘More Life’ – it appears the challenge was met head on.

As we reported here, the playlist was predicted to be greeted with sales equivalence of no less than 500k – a feat achieved by unprecedented streams.  In fact, reports have it the 6 God’s latest effort has been streamed over 380 million times worldwide (yes, that’s 50 million more than the record-setting ‘Views’).  With streaming and impressive sales together, ‘More’ has not only secured the rapper the best first week sales of the year, but his “playlist album” is the second best-selling project released this year overall.

Tuck in below to find out final figures:

Drake arrives at his official concert after party with Virginia Black at Hakkasan Las Vegas Restaurant and Nightclub on Sept. 11, 2016 in Las Vegas. 

‘More Life’ First Week Sales Equivalence:  505,000 SPS

Traditional sales: 248,000

Via Billboard:

The effort, which was released on March 18, earned 505,000 equivalent album units in the week ending March 23, according to Nielsen Music. That’s the biggest week for any album since Drake’s own Views launched with 1.04 million units on the list dated May 21, 2016.

Of More Life’s starting sum, a record 257,000 units were driven by streaming equivalent album units, equating to 384.8 million streams of songs from the 22-track album during the tracking frame…

Your thoughts?

Posted under:

Comments 37

Please Post Your Comments & Reviews

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. Bravo!! March 26, 2017

    His traditional sales are not great to be the “GOD”, but he HipHop & R&B soul love the album though.. He needs to sit back for two years and relax of the albums. Good sales but couldn’t have been better if we just miss this negro for a minute..

    • Meme March 26, 2017

      Please give me a list of urban acts that are competing with Drake in traditional sale. I will fu*king wait. Actually, please give me a list of overall all artist that competes with drake. Drake is one of the most consistent artist in this day and age across all genres

      • Jasmine March 27, 2017

        @Meme I think his sales are great so there is no reason to be criticizing his sales. I agree with you there is not a lot of urban acts that can compete with his sales except for Beyonce but she has gotten pop and urban consumers combined to make her top notch in sales.

  2. __ March 26, 2017

    Flop

    These sales are not good no matter how u try to spin it

    • Meme March 26, 2017

      This isn’t even considered an album first of all. With no official singles or videos. These sales are very well.

  3. Sugar Tetas March 26, 2017

    This is bad for him.

  4. S****** Blonde March 26, 2017

    Artists like him will soon take the place of MJ, Elvis and The Beatles as the best selling music acts, thanks to fake sales (streams). I still can’t get over the fact that streams are counted (certified) as real sales, it makes no damn sense.

    • Shethick March 26, 2017

      How doesn’t it make sense? People pay for stream subscriptions.. and listen to the music they want and PAY for. Its essentially the same thing, duh.

    • Rio March 27, 2017

      Bro this is the future(streaming), after 10 nobody will buy a album.

  5. Casual-T March 26, 2017

    Drake is still doing it big. The market is still evolving towards streams, and the record high streams account for the lower sales. Streaming and sales do not directly correlate, but streaming is at least as significant, b/c unlike with sales, you know with streaming that people are actually listening to your product.
    For those of us old enough to remember having to buy CDs, how many times did you buy a CD to only listen to it a few times?

    • SdotB March 27, 2017

      Actually, I used to play the hell out of my cd’s…nowadays, I only stream “new music” either once or just a few times, simply because most of the stuff out today is garbage…I find myself streaming old music on repeat instead.

      And with cd’s, at least you know people are interested to buy your music…with streaming, everyone can listen to the music and decide whether or not they like it…and that counts toward streaming sales…not necessarily the same thing. So streaming doesn’t directly reflect interest.

      • Pray for the youth March 27, 2017

        I have been saying this foreverrrrr to the bozos who swear up and down that streaming reflects demand. No the hell it very does not. SALES reflect demand. People stream because they don’t want to buy individually. That’s literally the entire point. They are not willing to buy their albums at full price, therefore, they do not value your music at a 13-15 dollar price point. Imagine paying 15 dollars for 14 songs Per Album versus 10 bucks a month for millions and millions of songs at your disposable. THAT is what they are paying streaming services for. Not for anyone’s individual album. If that were the case, they would’ve bought the album. That. Is. The. Point. Streams being counted as sales is, and as long as it’s possible and easily accessible to buy albums outright, will always be retarded.

      • Pray for the youth March 27, 2017

        *disposal

  6. Career Ender March 26, 2017

    the decline!!!

  7. Career Ender March 26, 2017

    i think Apple is rigging his stats when it comes to streams

  8. RhiRocks March 26, 2017

    You make money of streaming but it just means you have triple the work to make the same amount a actual album sale would make you. You can see drakes decline just by comparing the sales from his last album to this. People are getting tired as it’s not even been a year!

  9. Career Ender March 26, 2017

    Views is now stalling at 1,6 mil in the US, where are the sea swimmers at now?
    .
    Im handing out this -> Ls

  10. Career Ender March 26, 2017

    The decline in real album sales is coming up next week
    .
    He’ll be pushed past 1 milli by sytreams

    • Rosy March 26, 2017

      It looks like Beyoncé and Adele j cole are the only artist that sells albums without streaming drake needs to go away for awhile I’m tired of hearing a singing rapper too much

    • Rosy March 26, 2017

      i have to give Beyoncé credit show sold her albums close to 20 bucks and no streaming goes to show that people will spend to get her music I think streaming should not count in albums sale

      • Meme March 26, 2017

        This I agree. Beyoncé is one of the strongest album selling artist out. She performs without streaming with is commendible. However, the mass majority of music consumers are not purchasing so I’m affraid Beyoncé will have problems moving with time once purchasing becames completely irrelevant

  11. Career Ender March 26, 2017

    Does he even have a popular song out right now?

  12. BEY>RIH March 26, 2017

    Didn’t someone say “he’s gonna destroy Lemonade’s first week sales again and the bed bugs will be pressed”? Haha bítch you thought!! Nonetheless congrats tho; the playlist was aight..

  13. FAF March 26, 2017

    This isn’t a traditional album

    It’s like what a time to be Alive

    It’s not an official studio release like views

    That’s why it’s called A playlist

    So for what it’s worth, more ppl stream it

    • Julian March 26, 2017

      Honestly, I’m so over this “playlist”, “mixtape”, whatever crap. The only thing that might “More Life” set apart from an actual album is the length with 22 tracks, and even that’s not unheard of, especially in rap albums.
      To me, claiming this or that is not an “album” (for which nowadays, with no limitation by the physical medium, there is really no valid definition) is just a thinly veiled attempt to profit to people’s changed ways of consuming music while still catering to more traditional ways of consumption. You know, because it’s not a “playlist” for people to stream on a streaming platform, it’s an all-new set of music that you can also pay for in its entirety and download (plus I’ve read they’re already planning a physical release, so).

  14. Teflon Boy March 26, 2017

    The thing with streams is that it has become the new way to ‘trial’ music as it’s released.., 20 years ago the people who now stream an artist’s latest album to see if they like it would’ve been the same people who went to HMV to listen to the album on headphones as a means of deciding whether or not it was worth buying. That this new method of trialling an album counts toward actual sales has no bearing on whether people actually value the overall project.., only how popular the act is. Drake is a talented songwriter but his sound has become incredibly repetitive, I have no idea what he’s even talking about these days tbh.

    • Casual-T March 26, 2017

      The tell-tale sign is when an artist’s streaming numbers grow legs. If his streaming numbers are still high days/weeks in, then people are liking his music. Also, the sheer volume of Drake’s streaming says his music is widely popular. When an artist posts the kinds of streaming numbers Drake is posting, it’s because people like the music. He has the same hundreds of thousands or couple/few million people listening to his music over and over — not hundreds of millions of individual people.

  15. @ASAPicon March 26, 2017

    Yall cant be bias, Yall gotta drag him too! Its no shade.

  16. Metzo March 26, 2017

    His SPS numbers are higher than his actual pure sales. wow sad

  17. DanYiel Iman March 26, 2017

    Still not a fan so Aubrey from Degrassi on Nickelodeon doesn’t see my funds!!? ?

  18. Mark111 /.\ March 26, 2017

    Funny how some pick when to count streams or not. Question is, is this an actual album or a mixtape? He should be off that horrible Cash Money contract by now.

  19. Gee March 26, 2017

    YM biggest star right now.

  20. Kwinzy March 26, 2017

    Not bad but won’t do crazy numbers over time, even with streaming.

  21. AmbeRussell March 26, 2017

    Even 200k actual sales is great at this day and age. And some ppl art able to truly capitalize on the streaming, which is what drake is doing. Last ur he had no video for any of his singles and still did great numbers for a rapper or musician at all today. I don’t know the demand for him or why it is so high. He is becoming repetitive and that is why he is trying new beats and sounds to distract from the fact he is doing the same thing.

    • SdotB March 27, 2017

      He had a video for Hotline Bling, which was on the album.

  22. Now at your summer day smile tran March 27, 2017

    He still doing his things

  23. JOHNVIDAL March 27, 2017

    Wow those real slaes look low coming from him. I thought he was the most successful artist in the USA just last year? Drake and Rihanna are truly the streaming queens. Sad.

Recommended Posts
..**