Drake's Views has become the first album to clock up 1 billion streams on Apple Music. The Canadian rapper announced the news on Instagram with a pair of pictures — the first showing a celebratory plaque from Apple, signed by CEO Tim Cook (above); and the second showing Drake posing with Cook, iTunes head Eddy Cue, and Apple Music's head of content Larry Jackson. Everyone looks totally relaxed and normal.
This milestone is obviously good news for both Drake and Apple, with the latter originally negotiating Views as a five-day exclusive on Apple Music on April 29th. The iPhone maker has been using such exclusives to make headway against bigger rivals like Spotify, which it lags behind in paid subscriber count (17 million to Spotify's 40 million).
Drake has been happy to help out, and, apparently in celebration of the Views streams, has released a 23-minute short film accompanying the album on Apple Music. Please Forgive Me follows Drake and his girlfriend Fanny Neguesha in an Indecent Proposal-style caper, all soundtracked by Views tracks including "One Dance," "9," and "Controlla." According to MacRumors, the film will be available only on Apple Music "in perpetuity."
The explosive visual companion to #VIEWS. @drake’s Please Forgive Me.
— Apple Music (@AppleMusic) September 26, 2016
Only on #AppleMusic:https://t.co/86DnYZFruv pic.twitter.com/ANlLgr2imC