Kanye Has UK’s First Gold Streaming Album

Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo album is the first to be certified gold in the UK from streaming alone.

It means the rapper’s 2016 record has been listened to more than 100,000 times, according to data from the Official Charts Company.

The album was only released on JAY-Z’s Tidal service to start with.

Streaming was first used to make up the UK charts in 2015 with Kanye’s gold certification awarded by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

The Life of Pablo entered the Official Albums Chart in May last year at number 30 and has spent 47 weeks in the Top 100.

The album is Kanye’s eighth Top 40 in the UK and followed 2013’s chart-topping Yeezus. 2007’s Graduation also hit the top spot.

In April, The Life of Pablo became the first album to go platinum in America based on listens through streaming-only services with more than 1.5 billion US streams.

It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and became Kanye’s seventh consecutive number one album on the American chart.

The Life of Pablo was nominated for best rap album at the Grammys but lost out to Chance the Rapper’s Coloring Book, which became the first streaming-only album to win a prize at the ceremony.

TLOP singles Ultralight Beam and Famous were nominated for best rap/sung performance and best rap song but missed out to Drake’s Hotline Bling in both categories.

Source: BBC