Beyonce brought 360 million global streams to Tidal

The exclusive deal that Beyonce’s Lemonade album had with Tidal has brought 306 million global streams to the service that she is part-owner of.

According to the New York Times, 75% of these (229 million) were from the United States. Tidal, which is available in 46 countries including Australia, says that it gained an extra 1.2 million user sign-ups, including free tests, in the first week that Lemonade made its April 23 surprise appearance.

The album, the superstar’s sixth solo album, debuted at #1 on the US charts. At the time, it set a new record for weekly streams in the US with 115 million, according to Nielsen Music. 

The most streamed tracks from the album are Sorry, Hold Up, 6 Inch and Don’t Hurt Yourself. All are in the US Top 40, with Sorry at #11.

The hour-long conceptual film that accompanied Lemonade, which premiered on the HBO channel, has been streamed 11 million times on Tidal.

Lemonade is a test case of whether such exclusives can help Tidal expand from its current 3 million users to catch up with Spotify’s 30 million paying subscribers and Apple Music’s 13 million. Analysts say these might give it a boost but there needs to be many more to make a serious impact. Greater user numbers means services are in a stronger position to draw more investors.

There’s no doubt that streaming figures have exploded in the past six months. Drake’s Views, out a week after Lemonade, went on to double Lemonade’s achievements with 245.1 million streams in its first week in the US. Views was initially exclusively streamed on Apple Music with some singles on Spotify.

The third biggest streaming blockbuster is Justin Bieber’s Purpose, with 100.4 million streams in the week ending November 19, 2015. Fourth is Kanye West’s The Life Of Pablo with 99.5 million streams in the week ending April 7, also a Tidal exclusive from February 13 to March 31. 

The fifth is Beyonce’s Lemonade again, when it streamed a further 97 million in its second week.

Obviously such record breaking numbers are indicative of the growing power of streaming. The trend shows downloads are becoming irrelevant, and consumers are buying albums rather than just singles.