Rapper Post Malone Breaks Apple Music Record With Over 25M Streams of 'Rockstar' in One Week

[MacRumors]

Rapper Post Malone has broken a new record on Apple Music, releasing a song -- "Rockstar" feat. 21 Savage -- that was streamed over 25 million times in a single week. Apple Music confirmed to The Verge that this officially beats the service's worldwide single week streaming record previously set by DJ Khaled's song "I'm the One."

According to Carl Chery, Apple Music's head of artist curation, Apple has been interested and supportive of Post Malone even prior to the launch of the company's first streaming service, Apple Music. Once Apple Music did launch, Post Malone's "Rockstar" got "prime placement" on some of the most-listened-to hip-hop playlists, including The A-List, It's Lit, and #OnRepeat, helping increase Post Malone's presence on Apple Music.

Chery said that the reason behind the support of "Rockstar" is a simple one: "If we like it, we support it."

Post Malone has shattered Apple Music's single week streaming record with over 25 million streams of his new single "Rockstar" feat. 21 Savage, the streaming service tells The Verge. The previous record holder for worldwide single week streams was "I'm the One" by DJ Khaled.

"We just have a long history of supporting Post Malone, even before he got signed. 'White Iverson' was being heavily supported in iTunes -- that song is old enough that Apple Music wasn't even live yet. We were supporting him heavily back then, and we did the same thing with the Stoney project last year," Chery says. "The process is pretty simple for us, if we like it, we support it."

In total Apple Music grabbed 56 percent of the first week streams of "Rockstar" in the United States, and 41 percent worldwide, despite the single being released on multiple streaming services. Apple has been able to acquire large portions of the streaming market for other songs in the past, particularly Drake's "More Life" earlier this spring, and Chery said that this is because the company is "ahead of the curve on them."

The Apple Music executive explained that he heard "Rockstar" pre-release and "knew immediately" how much it would gain traction with fans, allowing the team to place it in the right playlists the week it was released, and grow from there.

"A lot of times on those records where we outperform is because we're ahead of the curve on them, Chery says." Chery told me he heard "Rockstar" before it was released and knew immediately that it would be a hit, allowing Apple to move fast and add it to the relevant playlists in the first week. "And to a point, Apple Music becomes the destination where people want to hear that particular record," Chery said.

Other previous Apple Music streaming records include Drake's album "Views," which became the first album on Apple Music to be streamed more than 1 billion times. Apple is continuously adding content into Apple Music to bolster its subscribers and retain current users, most recently introducing a new social element to the "For You" tab on iOS and macOS, generating even more music discovery among friends and family.

Article Link: Rapper Post Malone Breaks Apple Music Record With Over 25M Streams of 'Rockstar' in One Week

 

[Kaibelf]

I’m sure that some posters will complain about too much urban music, say rap and hip hop are garbage and other tried and true tripe but I for one am happy that these artists are getting exposure on a newer medium and can be found and heard on demand unlike radio.

 

[TrenttonY]

I’m sure that some posters will complain about too much urban music, say rap and hip hop are garbage and other tried and true tripe but I for one am happy that these artists are getting exposure on a newer medium and can be found and heard on demand unlike radio.

This music is ****. Hip-Hop/Rap died in early 2000’s...

 

[Southshore]

I believe that will earn him a check for $6.73.

 

[LightElf]

Papa bless.

 

[just.jon]

[doublepost=1506428776][/doublepost]

I believe that will earn him a check for $6.73.

According to Music’s payrate, it would be 300k-375k. Of course, after a manager, agent, publicist take 10% each, and the label gets their share, $6.73 is probably about right.

 

[djcerla]

Apple is doing something seriously right with Music.

On a side note, I hope rap style will become less sparse and more energetic, cheerful in the future.

 

[rctlr]

Yet it at #10 in the UK iTunes Chart, #5 in midweek Official Chart.
Something smells of fish here.

 

[0098386]

Congrats on the musician! I can only imagine he's going to make a lot of money from this, it seems like he has his fans alright!

 

[Xprmntr]

hot garbage

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Apple is doing something seriously right with Music.

Have to strongly disagree here, and not because I dislike this particular song. This story demonstrates how Apple is doing something seriously wrong.

I hate radio because it forces me to listen to what everyone else is listening to. I love Spotify because it lets me go and listen to weird crap that no one else is listening to. Heck, it doesn't just let me go and do that - it encourages and helps me to do that. Every week it gives me a list of 40 tracks virtually nobody has ever heard of that it thinks I'll love.

More often then not, it nails it. I've spent the last week listening to a lot of Russian metal, which I could never have discover on my own even if I wanted to (because I have a latin keyboard and don't know how to type Cyrillic, which rules out being able to type in the name of the artists, albums, or songs).

It gives my friends their stuff which sounds nothing like my stuff but they love it too.

That's amazing. There's a huge diverse collection of music out there, and everybody has their own tastes, and Spotify embraces that and caters to everyone.

Apple Music is the opposite. Apple Music hates diversity. Beats One exists to crush diversity and force everyone to listen to the same thing. All of the rest of Apple's curation, in all of their online stores, has the same issue.

Nobody can ever break out and be discovered, because Apple has no interest in making perfect matches between producers and consumers. They want to just hand pick a few producers they like and force that on all consumers, leaving nothing for the rest of the producers.

 

[Oblivious.Robot]

Heard of the artist just last month, he’s surprisingly talented.
I love the Stoney album.

This comes from someone who doesn’t usually like rap.

 

[Sefstah]

Anyone know how much 1 stream on Apple music pays? I believe YouTube is around $0.002 per stream.

 

[OllyW]

Nobody can ever break out and be discovered, because Apple has no interest in making perfect matches between producers and consumers. They want to just hand pick a few producers they like and force that on all consumers, leaving nothing for the rest of the producers.

I'm currently trying out Apple Music and it hasn't forced any music on me yet.

 

[NomadicTy]

Sorry, but rap have been crap for a while now. I actually used to buy rap CD's (remember those?) up through the early 2000's. Now they all sound the same with that auto-tune stuff, and basically meaningless, repetitive lyrics... With that said, this guy's lyrics are not so bad. But please, kill that auto-tune already.

 

[whyamihere]

I still prefer this Rockstar song better:

 

[trusso]

I checked-out from the puppet show that is the modern entertainment industry many, many years ago.

You all have fun, though.

 

[man3ster]

so that makes his profit about $200?

 

[SigEp265]

This music is ****. Hip-Hop/Rap died in early 2000’s...

90's Hip-Hop radio station on Pandora is worth a listen.

 

[lunarworks]

I’m sure that some posters will complain about too much urban music, say rap and hip hop are garbage and other tried and true tripe but I for one am happy that these artists are getting exposure on a newer medium and can be found and heard on demand unlike radio.

Yup. My first thought on seeing the headline was "Here come the 'shoving down our throats' posts."

It's like some people here have never walked into an actual music store. You're going to be exposed to music you may not be interested in, but no one's forcing it on you.

 

[neliason]

Taste is very personal. That said, I’m not sure what is popular has ever been all that great.

 

[Scottsoapbox]

Wow! Even at a fraction of a penny each that's a lot of $$$$$!

 

[KAZphoto]

Connngggratttullllattioonnnssss