What you need to know
- Kanye West held a second listening event for his new album Donda recently.
- The event was live-streamed on Apple Music.
- According to reports it pulled a record 5.4 million viewers and generated $7 million from in-person merch sales.
A new report says that Kanye West's second Donda live stream even on Apple Music smashed his own previous record for a live streaming event.
According to Billboard, the second livestream on Thursday, August 5, drew in 5.4 million viewers and generated a staggering $7 million from in-person merchandise sales at the event. As Billboard notes the viewing figures are more than double the current record for a Twitch live stream. Twitter hype was also reportedly at a massive high, generation 1.1 million during the event at its peak.
As previously reported Kanye's first Apple Music live stream set the new record for a live streaming event, eclipsing Gucci Mane and Jeezy's record of 1.8 million.
The merchandise figure also reportedly puts the event up there with Taylor Swift's 2018 Reputation tour, which grossed just under $7 million a show. Kanye had promised to debut his album following the first live stream on July 22, and again following the August 5 event, yet the album is still nowhere to be seen. Kanye's first event sent the internet into meltdown, from our previous report:
Kanye West held a listening event for his new album Donda which was live-streamed exclusively on Apple Music on Thursday night, however, his bizarre appearance at the show, and the fact his album is nowhere to be seen seems to have set the internet on fire. Fans in the stadium and on the internet were left bemused, however, when the rapper showed up for the show at 9:50 pm EST, almost two hours late. USA Today reports that West walked around the stage for 48 minutes as his new album played (very loudly) through the stadium's speakers. West reportedly didn't speak at all during the event and then simply left.
