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Kanye West breaks Apple Music streaming record with ‘Donda’ listening party livestream

Apple Music and Kanye West teamed up last week to offer an exclusive livestream of the listening event for West’s upcoming album Donda. The event was streamed exclusively on Apple Music from Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, and it is said to have broken the record for an Apple Music livestream.

According to a report from TMZ, citing “sources with direct knowledge,” 3.3 million people tuned into the Apple Music livestream from the Kanye West Donda listening party. This is reportedly nearly double the preview record for an Apple Music livestream.

The report explains:

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ … Ye’s album event this past week at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta broke the Apple Music Global Livestream record … with 3.3 million viewers who tuned in on their screens.

That’s a heck of a lot more than the previous record, we’re told, which was set by Gucci Mane and Jeezy in their highly-anticipated Verzuz battle earlier last year — at a reported 1.8 million viewers. Kanye practically doubled the number as a solo act!

Also of note, Apple is said to have made an offer to acquire the rap battle website Verzuz earlier this year, but the platform was ultimately acquired by Triller for a higher amount. Once the Triller acquisition was finalized, Verzuz stopped live streaming on Apple Music.

As for when you’ll be able to watch the Donda listening party on Apple Music on-demand, TMZ says that the video will be posted to Apple Music once Kanye West releases the Donda album, which is rumored to be dropping on August 6…maybe.

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Avatar for Chance Miller Chance Miller

Chance is the editor-in-chief of 9to5Mac, overseeing the entire site’s operations. He also hosts the 9to5Mac Daily and 9to5Mac Happy Hour podcasts.

You can send tips, questions, and typos to chance@9to5mac.com.

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