KANYE VS. DRAKE:
PLACE YOUR BETS

With the streaming success of Donda, how much pressure has Kanye West put on rival Drake, whose Certified Lover Boy dropped on 9/3? Can Drake equal or surpass the numbers Kanye has put on the board? Master manipulator Ye would seem to have earned his marketing PhD by pushing all of Apple's buttons.

As we reported earlier, Apple Music has been a big booster of Donda; the platform hosted three livestream events prior to the album's drop, which helped whip up demand. The DSP even touted the set's record-breaking one-day Apple streams in the U.S., which is fairly unusual for a company that tends to keep its data close to the vest. Apple’s Larry Jackson helped put the package together for Kanye.

Drake, too, has benefited enormously from his relationship with Apple over the years, starting with a deal in 2015 reported to be worth $19m and an Apple-exclusive release of his Views the following year.

With Certified Lover Boy off to a resounding start, buzz abounds regarding a feud that is now moving to a new arena: the marketplace. Naturally, we'll be following that bout most attentively.