Apple’s big bet on Drake is paying off huge for both sides and shattering records in the process.
Drake’s new album Views is only available on Apple Music, but it’s already been streamed over 250 million times in its first week and his album sales are on pace to be the biggest release by a male artist since Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience.
Whether it’s hosting a show on Beats 1, sporting a vintage Apple jacket, or having his music tirelessly promoted in Apple Music ads, Drake’s about as established a part of Cupertino these days as Eddy Cue’s collection of Hawaiian shirts.
No surprise then that everyone’s favorite Canadian Degrassi actor-turned-bad-boy-rapper just chose iTunes and Apple Music as the place to debut his new, fourth studio album Views.
Drake’s apparently making bank off of a recent Apple Music ad featuring Taylor Swift faceplanting onto a treadmill.
The video launched less than a week ago on April 1, and since it went live, iTunes sales of Drake’s song “Jumpman,” which features prominently in the spot, have more than quadrupled, Billboard reports. And the playlist Swift pulls up to motivate herself for her cardio workout is showing pretty good numbers on Apple’s streaming service, too.
If you aren’t one of the millions of people who has already seen the Apple Music ad, you can check it out below.
Taylor Swift hates doing cardio! The latest ad for Apple Music pits the singer against one of the most ferocious machines in the gym: the dread treadmill.
It’s Swift’s first appearance in an Apple ad, and it also reveals that the country-turned-pop star has a soft spot for hip-hop icons Drake and Future. She says her hilarious ad is “based on real events” that reveal her alien talent for rapping and keeping on beat no matter what happens.
Watch Tee Sweezy drop the bars below:
2015 has been a big year for brilliant albums, with everyone from Kendrick Lamar to Adele blasting out savory songs that changed the landscape of music. We saw Jamie XX arise as an incredible solo act, Ben Gibbard got his emo-groove back, and Drake dominated the rap world with brutal rap battles and meme-tastic music videos.
It was tough to narrow down the amazing albums of 2015 to just 10, but here are our favorite albums of the year.
The Apple-owned Beats brand has become the second company (after Fox Studios) to sponsor a Snapchat lens, with a one-day-only Black Friday deal that lets you animate your face bopping along in time to rapper Drake’s new song “Big Rings.”
Jay-Z’s Tidal hasn’t been much of a threat to Apple Music so far, but according to Tidal, that’s not stopping Cupertino from suing them. Over charity, no less!
Drake showed himself to be smarter than many musicians (or at least to have better advisers) when he ducked out on the opportunity to be part of Jay Z’s Tidal debacle and instead went full-bore with representing Apple Music.
From posing with his Apple Watch Edition and rocking a sweet vintage Apple jacket at the Worldwide Developers Conference, to having his own show on Beats 1, Drake’s about as Cupertino as it gets these days. And according to the new track he dropped over the weekend, he’s more than happy about it — even if he’s still “got love” for the folks at Tidal.
Apple is getting one step closer to becoming its own record label by creating its own artistic content — having recently produced in-house music videos for top-name artists such as Drake, Eminem and Pharrell.
The videos — which include Em’s “Phenomonal” and Pharrell’s “Happy” — debuted on Apple Music. Future artists Apple will reportedly be producing videos for include M.I.A., Purity Ring, Diddy and James Bay.
Beats 1 already boasts a superstar cast of DJ’s but they’re about to get a new pair of hosts in the form of rap group, Run the Jewels.
Killer Mike and El-P are set to take over Beats 1 every Friday at 6PM PT for their very own show called “WRTJ.” The show will follow the duo as they complete the Run the Jewel world tour and talk about music, as well as the merits of unicorns and dragons.
Check out the teaser El-P published today:
