Kanye West's The Life Of Pablo becomes the UK's first album to be certified Gold on streams only

Kanye West has achieved a first for music streaming as his latest record, The Life Of Pablo, becomes the first album in the UK to be certified Gold based on streams alone. 

The Gold certification, awarded by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), is given to albums that have sold over 100,000 according to Official Charts Company data. In Kanye's case, they are album equivalent streams (100,316 to be exact), which were introduced into the Official Chart in 2015.

It means that, on average, each track on the rapper's 2016 record has, according to Official Charts data, been streamed 10.5 million times, equating to 100,000 album sales – hence being awarded a Gold certification on audio streams alone.

The Life Of Pablo was initially released exclusively on Jay-Z's streaming service TIDAL in February. By April it was made available on other services following a series of alterations of the album's tracks.

The collection entered the Official Albums Chart in May at Number 30 and has so far spent 47 weeks in the Top 100. It's Kanye's eighth Top 40 in the UK and followed 2013's chart-topping Yeezus. 

MORE: See where all of Kanye's singles and albums have charted in the UK

In America, The Life of Pablo debuted at Number 1 on the Billboard 200, becoming Kanye's seventh consecutive number one album on the chart and the first album to reach the top spot primarily through streaming.

The record was also nominated for Best Rap Album at the 59th Grammy Awards, while its singles Ultralight Beam and Famous were nominated for Best Rap/Sung Performance and Best Rap Song. 

Article image: Rex