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Drake's 'Views' is first album to hit 1B Apple Music streams

Drake's year of domination continues as his once Apple-exclusive album hits another milestone.

Daniel Van Boom Senior Writer
Daniel Van Boom is an award-winning Senior Writer based in Sydney, Australia. Daniel Van Boom covers cryptocurrency, NFTs, culture and global issues. When not writing, Daniel Van Boom practices Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, reads as much as he can, and speaks about himself in the third person.
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Drake drapes his arms around Apple CEO Tim Cook (left) and Apple Music head of content Larry Jackson, while iTunes boss Eddy Cue flashes his pearly whites.

Screenshot by Daniel Van Boom/CNET

It can only mean one thing when that Hotline Bling -- more good news for Drake.

The Canadian rapper has become the first artist to have an album, in this case the April-released "Views," register over 1 billion streams on Apple Music. Earlier this week, he received a plaque from Apple CEO Tim Cook, iTunes boss Eddy Cue and Apple Music head of content Larry Jackson, as seen on Drake's Instagram account.

It didn't just crawl over the mark, either. Jackson noted via tweet that the album is now up to 1.5 billion streams on Apple Music.

"Views" is something of a feather in the cap for Apple, which secured five days of exclusivity on Apple Music back in April. The streaming service, which competes with Spotify and Tidal, will also host an exclusive "visual companion" to "Views," the company tweeted.

The album isn't just a digital juggernaut. It has also topped the US' Billboard 200 charts for 13 nonconsecutive weeks.