J. Cole’s new album “KOD” has set a new milestone on Apple Music for streams in the first 24 hours following release, surpassing 64 million streams on its first day, according to The Verge, and beating out the previous record holder, Drake’s “Views”, by almost one million streams. The Verge adds that out of the top 10 most-streamed songs in a 24-hour period, seven from “KOD” are now listed.
Apple Music also reportedly accounts for 66 percent of the first-day streaming market share for “KOD” in the U.S., and 60 percent worldwide — impressive results considering that Apple has 120 million less users than its top rival, Spotify, yet continues to account for top first-week streaming totals in the hip-hop and R&B genres. Similarly, Cardi B’s debut album, “Invasion of Privacy” set a new record for first-week streams earlier this month, quickly overtaking the record previously held by Taylor Swift’s “Reputation.”