The US first week performance of this album is projected to be 40K lower than his BEST US first week performance ever.

Reminder: he has NEVER surpassed 163K streaming units first week in the US.

Are you seriously tripping over 40K units man?

Timeless has steadily been around #13 on the Hot 100 since it released. Sure it’s not the biggest hit in the US but to say it hasn’t made much noise either is incorrect

Again, where was all this noise for Drake when the first week streaming total for For All the Dogs was 230 MILLION LOWER than CLB?

No. Everyone insisted Kendrick Lamar ended Drake's career and no one listens to his music anymore and no one would come out to see him on tour because the entire world now sees him as a pedophile. Him still putting up massive streaming numbers and selling out shows goes against those narratives and that's why they were pointed out.

Even you, just a few weeks ago, were taunting about how you'd like to see if his next album cracks 300k because you believe he has taken a hit commercially but now people can't call out the same thing that's been happening to the Weeknd?

It’s like talking to a wall.

The Weeknd’s HIGHEST FIRST WEEK TOTAL EVER is 444K.

Sales are RELATIVE.

I do not have the same sales expectations for Taylor Swift as I do for SZA.

If The Weeknd crosses 300K, he is a mere 100K shy of his PEAK FIRST WEEK TOTAL.

If Drake ONLY sells 300K, that would be SECOND for his LOWEST FIRST WEEK TOTAL EVER.

Lastly, nobody genuinely believed that the entire world would stop listening to Drake or go see him on tour. Anyone who said that was either trolling or straight up an idiot

200M US streams lower than CLB is still 500M US streams.

The Weeknd has never even cracked 221M US streams with an album.

Before Taylor's latest album, Drake held the record for the biggest US streaming debuts with both Scorpion/CLB.

Your post is the equivalent of you calling every Taylor Swift album moving forward that does 1.5M instead of 2M a fall-off when literally no one else is coming even close to her numbers.

Taylor Swift is in a league of her own. But still, if her next album does 200-300M less streams than her last album, we can point that out as being a sign of declining interest.

So if Drake streams 300M next album are you just gonna say “well that’s still 300M” instead of pointing out the fact his stream total has dropped by 400M in the span of four years?

Thank you for acknowledging that The Weeknd has never cracked 221M first week because like we’ve been saying over and over again: he has NEVER done big first week streaming numbers, so expecting him to all of a sudden do 300/400M+ is absolutely delusional

The Weeknd currently has 7 full-length projects available for streaming, right? Drake currently has 15. He has dropped a lot more times than the Weeknd and has had to live up to the commercial expectations that come with him being a mega star more times than the Weeknd has. Same with Taylor. And yet, you expect them to keep posting those monster numbers, regardless of whatever happens, yet when people point out that The Weeknd has never grown as a streaming artist and is having his music perform worse in the US with each album, your defense is to post tour stats as a way to dismiss the point being made.

You are more than okay holding everyone else to high standards but God forbid anyone do so for The Weeknd. That's the point being made.

AH did 163k with 14 tracks at a time when streaming was down 50%

why is it crazy to expect this new album, with 22 tracks, to pull similar numbers under normal conditions?

Maybe because After Hours is his biggest album? Why are we holding an artist to the standard of their commercial PEAK

He has dropped a lot more times than the Weeknd and has had to live up to the commercial expectations that come with him being a mega star more times than the Weeknd has. Same with Taylor. And yet, you expect them to keep posting those monster numbers

If 163K streaming units are “monster numbers” to you, then you’re more delusional than I thought

someone add the "LMFAO you idiots thought this was written by Lil Yachty/Iknew that was Lil Yachty's sauce" screenshot

I think context matters. I don't expect an R&B or dance album by Drake to stream as well as a rap album by Drake. Even you yourself has insisted on how "pop artists don't stream as well as rappers." And since Drake doesn't use physicals to boost his first week numbers, you can't judge all his projects on an even field. We're judging the Weeknd on an even field because all his albums are R&B/Pop — the genres he's dabbled in his entire career.

I know Drake's next album isn't a rap album so I'm not gonna expect massive streams, especially if it doesn't even drop as a Drake album.

Okay, and I literally proved to you yesterday that on average, Pop albums USUALLY do not have insane first week streaming numbers. Rap is the genre that dominates first week streaming total

Starboy pulled similar streaming numbers to HUT, despite being released when streaming services had four times fewer active users. that’s actually crazy

Because the "peak" isn't that high lmao. 220M US streams isn't a massive number to surpass. Harry Styles went from not cracking 100M US streams with his first 2 albums to cracking 247M US streams with his third. We've see Morgan Wallen and Taylor Swift grow their US-streaming audiences. Same with SZA and Billie Eilish.

The Weeknd is bigger than all these acts in the US outside of Taylor. Big enough that he's now playing stadiums. He has bigger hits than most of them. What's his excuse for being such a weak streaming artist in the US? That's what people are wondering.

I don't expect @fader to ever approach this discussion honestly. Drake did 275M US streams with Views on Apple Music alone back in 2016. What's happening to the Weeknd right now would be the equivalent of Drake never surpassing 275M US streams from 2016 till now and even dipping in streams with subsequent albums, despite scoring bigger hits and becoming more of a household name since then.

That's what you seem to be wondering about but expect more disingenuous responses lol.

Okay, so since his first week peak isn’t that high, are you now arguing that After Hours isn’t a successful album?

Again, comparing rap to pop

CLB matched Scorpion's streaming numbers despite having 4 fewer songs, no monster hits and being released when the industry hadn't recovered from the effects of the pandemic yet and people tried to pass that off as a flop because it didn't match the 700k+ units Scorpion did. Now, we're scrutinizing the streaming numbers of another major artist and its being treated like harassment lmao.

Views is mostly a pop album, my dude.

Keep the Family Close
Feel No Ways
With You
Faithful
Controlla
One Dance
Too Good
Summers Over Interlude
Fire & Desire
Hotline Bling

Half the album is straight up non-rap songs lmao and the biggest songs off the album aren't the rap songs.

No, it's successful. We are scrutinizing WHY he hasn't been able to grow as a streaming artist in the US despite becoming a bigger artist and scoring more hits with his singles in the region.

That's why it's being pointed out that you saying more songs = better streaming performance for every other artist but then using the "but the Weeknd has never been a huge streaming artist in the US" as a convenient excuse as to why his longest album yet is performing similarly to an album that dropped 9 years ago, when streaming hadn't even taken off yet, is being seen as you being disingenuous.

You've mentioned multiple times how For All the Dogs pulling 500M US streams despite having 23 songs is notable as a sign of Drake declining but we shouldn't point out how the Weeknd can't seem to grow as a streaming artist or put up bigger streaming numbers in the US despite dropping an album with 22 songs at a point in his career where you'd insist he's bigger than he's ever been?

That's why I listed a bunch of other artists who aren't as big as he is and who don't have as many hits as he does but who have been able to grow their streaming audience, at least to the point of being able to drop an album that pulls more than 220M US streams.

I've never seen a fanbase as obsessed with streaming numbers as Drake’s. To the point where they hate on anyone who finds even a little success on the charts whether it’s Weeknd, Travis, or someone else.

Have yall really gone so far that you need to hate on anyone who doesn’t worship Drake? This thread was originally a Kendrick hate thread just because of MM’s streams. I’m not even a Travis or Weeknd fan but this sht really weird. Drake stans just cant stand to see anyone else win is wild.

Are some of yall really so insecure that you can’t let anyone else have even a little success? And this always comes from insecure Drake stans yall so obsessed with numbers that yall can’t let anyone else shine? Drake has 108 billion streams almost 50 billion more than the next closest artist. No one is catching him. Why yall so bitter and insecure smh?

Now Views is a pop album. Y’all got it.

They simultaneously acknowledge that Drake is the king of streaming and also expect every other artist to stream as well as him. Make it make sense.