Travis Scott’s Utopia (RCA) has set global streaming records for 2023, including the year’s biggest single day’s streaming volume on Spotify so far (128 million).
All 19 of its tracks claimed the first 19 places in Spotify’s US Top 20.
The record – which features guests including Bon Iver, Sampha, Drake, Playboi Carti, Beyoncé, 21 Savage, The Weeknd, Yung Lean, Young Thug, James Blake, Kid Cudi, Bad Bunny, Future and SZA – has been streamed more than 330 million times on Spotify worldwide since its release on Friday. Apple Music also confirmed that Utopia had the biggest first day streams for an album in 2023.
Streaming consumption in the UK is also proving to be impressive for Scott’s fourth album, so much so that the US rapper could have the biggest weekly album streams of the year to date. It follows his headline performance at Wireless Festival last month (pictured).
In the Midweek sales update from the Official Charts Company, Travis Scott’s digital-only Utopia was just a single sale behind Anne-Marie’s Unhealthy. For sales up to the end of Sunday (July 30), Utopia was on 10,705 units, including 10,507 from streams and 198 downloads. Crucially, there’s a lag for streaming data which means that Scott’s opening week total will increase considerably by the time the chart is published on Friday.
Weekly sales-equivalent streams above 10,000 are not common – seven other albums have done it so far in 2023. The target for Travis Scott to beat is 23,578, which Taylor Swift managed for Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) to secure the biggest streaming weekly total for an album in 2023 so far.
Scott is also chasing big streaming totals by UK rap stars, including Nines’ Crop Circle 2 (14,864 sales-equivalent streams – the second biggest total of 2023). While Nines peaked at No.2, J Hus reached No.1 with Beautiful & Brutal Yard, including a contribution of 14,383 sales-equivalent streams (the third biggest total so far this year).
If Travis Scott’s Utopia continues to power ahead on streams, it could also challenge Her Loss by 21 Savage & Drake, which peaked at No.1 with a contribution of 35,705 sales-equivalent streams in chart week 45 last year.
To secure the UK record for the most-streamed rap album in a single week, Utopia will need to topple Drake’s 2018 smash Scorpion, which racked up 49,715 chart sales from streams in its opening week. That puts Drake fifth overall on weekly album streams, behind Ed Sheeran’s Divide (which has the biggest weekly total to date from streams – 78,944 – and the second biggest), Taylor Swift’s Midnights and Sheeran’s No.6 Collaborations Project.
Travis Scott’s third album, Astroworld, opened at No.3 in August 2018 with sales of 18,609, including sales-equivalent streams of 17,089. On its current momentum, Utopia looks like it’s on track to top that week one performance.
Astroworld has UK sales to date of 368,302, according to the Official Charts Company, including 342,373 from streams, 20,570 physical copies and 5,359 downloads.
PHOTO: Ben Awin
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