Kanye West is still at the top of his game.
The rapper just became the first artist to go platinum without selling a single hard copy of an album, according to Billboard’s “platinum” criteria.
As reported by The Verge, “The Life of Pablo” released in February of last year, has been streamed over 3 billion times worldwide, and has just hit 1.5 billion streams in the US — making it the first album to be RIAA-certified platinum from streaming alone. The album was also available for sale on West’s website, but downloads contributed only 0.7 percent of its first-week units.
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The news is really a sign of the times, when more artists are choosing to take non-traditional routes to release their music. Most notable for doing this is Chance the Rapper who not only received a Grammy nomination from a streaming-only album but also made the Billboard 200.
Despite being uninvited to the family barbecue for his problematic comments about President Trump and Beyoncé, Kanye still holds a solid fan base. In February, he debuted his latest Yeezy collection and is rumored to be working on new music for this year.
