MONDAY UPDATE: After an initial slow start on Friday, Drake’s “Certified Lover Boy” soared over the weekend. Total sales since Friday are 325,000 according to Buzz Angle.
The ratio of streaming to actual sales though is 10 to 1. That’s just 31,000 copies in paid downloads. The rest of it is all streaming.
The singles are selling, thanks to streaming. “Girls Want Girls” is 150,000, all streaming. Individually, all 20 tracks take up the Spotify top 20. They’re all above 100,000 streams since Friday. On Buzz Angle, Drake has the top 5 tracks, period.
But no one is buying “CLB.” What’s the difference? Royalties, yes, are much higher on downloads and CDs. But also, so far no wants Drake’s album in their home, in their hand, on their phone. They’re paying a subscription price to the streaming services and hitting the play button over and over.
Meanwhile, to stoke sales, Drake and Kanye West are having some kind of “feud” totally manufactured, set up, organized to keep interest in their respective albums. “Donda” had a big first week, now has cooled off considerably. “CLB” will do the same. “Donda” has sold 42,500 copies since Friday.
And who’s happy? All the people Drake sampled, which is a long, long list starting with the Beatles. Paul McCartney must be smiling wide this morning.
