Kanye West just made music history

Kanye West's latest album, The Life Of Pablo, becomes the first album ever to become number one based on streaming.

Kanye West made music history today when his latest album, The Life Of Pablo, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.

No big deal, you say, loads of people get to number one? Well what's special is that the album hit the top spot based on streaming plays alone.

Yup, The Life Of Pablo becomes the first album ever to debut at number one based on streaming, after the equivalent of 94,000 copies of Kanye's latest record were 'sold' in the first week of April 2016. With more and more people moving away from buying physical albums, Billboard (the official music industry chart in the US) now considers streaming from subscription-based services as a sale, with nearly 70% of The Life Of Pablo's sales coming from people listening online.

Yes, that's right, it's the end of CDs and downloads as we know them.

The news is a major moment for the industry, as physical albums become more and more obsolete and people prefer to listen to their favourite albums online. And while there have been many number one albums with streaming plays included - Beyoncé anyone? - this is the first time, an album has debuted at the top spot so soon after its release.

So, although Kanye may have said some baffling things, launched his own fashion line and is even talking with Ikea for his own collaboration, his SEVENTH number one album proves the rapper is still at the top of his game on the music scene, too. And, in true Kanye style, he even took to Twitter to congratulate his own huge win...

http://storify.com/norlisar/kanye-west-life-of-pablo