Justin Bieber OBLITERATES US and Global Streaming Record with New Album

All seems forgiven when it comes to the attention being accorded to Justin Bieber’s Purpose, which can now be unreservedly called his “comeback” album. While Adele is staying on the sidelines with 25 as far as streaming goes (at least for now), the space is wide open for the Biebster to take the lead.

In its first week, Purpose was streamed 77 million time–and that was just in the US alone. And just on Spotify. Wow.

Globally, the album was sucked through Spotify 205 million times. The last global record holder was The Weeknd (another Canadian. Hmm.), whose Beauty Behind the Madness had a first-week Spotify stream total of just 90 million.

These numbers are mind-boggling, pointing to a world where music is dominated by streaming. It’ll be interesting to see where Purpose ends up sales-wise when the first-week numbers are released early next week. Will streams cannibalize sales as Adele and Taylor Swift attest? Or does streaming carry the same promotional equivalent as radio airplay? We’ll see.