Travis Scott has shattered a Spotify record previously held by Drake for garnering the most monthly listeners by a rapper on the streaming platform.
On Thursday (August 17), Chart Data reported that La Flame came in at No. 1 with 74.945 million monthly listeners which is the all-time record for most monthly listeners in Spotify history.
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Other rappers who’ve had the highest peak of monthly listeners on the platform include Eminem, Nicki Minaj, and Kanye West, to name a few.
Travis Scott’s new record comes after the release of his highly-anticipated fourth album UTOPIA.
Travis Scott officially breaks the all-time record for most monthly listeners for a rapper in Spotify history (74.945 million; @trvisXX). pic.twitter.com/EseDiOXYCu
— chart data (@chartdata) August 17, 2023
Highest peak of monthly listeners for rap artists in Spotify history 👀🏆
74.9m – Travis Scott (#1)
74.7m – Drake (#2)
68.6m – Eminem (#3)
65.4m – Nicki Minaj (#4)
63.8m – Doja Cat (#5)
63.7m – Lil Nas X (#6)
62.9m – Metro Boomin (#7)
62.0m – 21 Savage (#8)
58.4m – Future…— Hip Hop All Day (@HipHopAllDayy) August 17, 2023
The Astroworld artist is no stranger to breaking records. In 2022, he broke BTS’ record for the highest merch sales while performing in the United Kingdom.
According to TMZ, Travis Scott sold more than $1million in merch at his string of sold-out concerts at London’s O2 Arena.
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That figure eclipses the previous record set by K-Pop supergroup BTS, who pulled in just under $1million in merch sales during their Love Yourself World Tour stops in the English capital in October 2018.
Travis Scott’s merch was made exclusively for specific August 2022 dates at the O2 Arena, which marked his first headline performance since his tragic Astroworld Festival in Houston in November 2021, where 10 people died.
The collection included hoodies retailing between £100 ($122) and £125 ($153), T-shirts priced from £45 ($55) to £75 ($92) and hats that sold for £45 ($55) each. Fans reportedly lined up for hours before the show to get their hands on the gear.
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As for UTOPIA, the long-awaited album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with major first-week sales.
According to Billboard, the project moved 496,000 album-equivalent units, comprised of 243,000 SEA units (330.68 million on-demand streams), a massive 252,000 pure album sales and 1,000 TEA units.
In doing so, UTOPIA secured the third-biggest week for any album in 2023 and the largest for any Hip Hop release. Its vinyl sales — 55,000 — also mark the largest tally for a rap album since tracking sales began in 1991.
Released on July 28 following years of anticipation, UTOPIA was stacked with features from fellow chart-toppers like Drake, Future, Beyoncé, The Weeknd, 21 Savage, Lil Uzi Vert, Playboi Carti, SZA, Young Thug and Bad Bunny.
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All 19 songs on the album also debuted on the Hot 100, with the highest being the Drake-assisted “Meltdown” at No. 3. “FE!N,” which landed at No. 5, earned Playboi Carti his highest-charting song, while “Parasail” (No. 53) gave Dave Chappelle his first Hot 100 hit.
UTOPIA is the third No. 1 solo album of Travis Scott’s career and his first since 2018’s Astroworld, which also debuted at No. 1 with 537,000 album-equivalent units in its first week — including 270,000 pure album sales.
His JackBoys compilation album also debuted at No. 1 in 2019 after opening with 154,000 units.
