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Kanye West’s ‘Donda’ is Biggest Debut of 2021 with Over 775 Million Global Streams

  • “Donda” tops charts in eleven countries – including US, UK, Australia and first time #1 debuts in France, Italy, and Sweden.
  • Sets All-Time Apple Music Record for #1 Peaks in 152 Countries

Kanye West – “one of pop’s most singular talents,” “among the most influential pop stars of the 21st century” – returns to the top of the album charts in historic fashion again this week.

Released off-cycle on Sunday, August 29th, DONDA is the biggest album debut of 2021, racking up over 520,000 equivalent units globally in its first week of streaming. DONDA has accumulated over 775 Million global streams; over 442 Million at Spotify, and 242 Million at Apple Music worldwide.

DONDA is a global phenomenon, topping the album charts in eleven countries. West returns to #1 in the US, the UK and Australia with his biggest career streaming numbers to date, and sees his first career #1 debuts in France, Italy and Sweden. DONDA set an Apple Music all-time record at #1 in 152 countries.

DONDA was previewed at three historic livestreamed listening events – at Atlanta’s Mercedes Benz Stadium and Chicago’s Soldier Field – each of which successively broke Apple Music’s global records for livestream audience.

“Ye’s 10th album is arguably his best in years…a cinematic coup de maître we’ve not seen from him in years…a homecoming that sees him reintegrating into the artform he helped create and evolve.” – Hypebeast

“Gorgeous…defiant…The album is full of perplexing twists and competing ideas and voices, but the unifying quality is a subtle minimalism…[on] the songs where Kanye and his guests display a synergy on par with the maximalist highs of Fantasy and Late Registration, Donda shines…” – Vulture

“Full of introspection, conflicting emotions and bursts of musical innovation…West somehow wrangles a surprisingly cohesive collection, his best album since 2010′s “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.” There’s a vague narrative arc, from sinning to salvation, that’s reflected in dark sonic beauty… West leans into pain throughout… more focused on evoking feeling through sound than complex wordplay…DONDA represents a revival, in every sense of the word, for one of pop’s most singular talents.” – Associated Press

“For the last few years, Kanye West — perhaps tired of the insufficiency of the album, or music-making in general — has been seeking increasingly grand canvases for his various projects… New music may have been the raison d’être for these events, but it is not his sole goal… the version of DONDA played at each event has been different — and West’s refining of it in public is his true artistic project now. It is an ideal strategy for West, still among the most influential pop stars of the 21st century, an artist who is almost incalculably popular and yet almost wholly removed from the pop music mainstream.” – New York Times

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