Do artists need labels anymore? Are exclusives a good thing? Those questions and more are being asked by artists and managers this week after Chance The Rapper became the first artist to debut an Apple Music exclusive streaming-only album high on the Billboard 200;and he did itwithout a record label.
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Chance the Rapper’s latest mixtape “Coloring Book” has debuted this week at No. 8 on Billboard’s 200 chart. It is the first streaming-only album to ever chart there.
Signaling other major shifts, the mixtape was released without the help of any label and has only been available in its first week as an Apple Music exclusive. In that week, it earned 38,000 equivalent album units from a total of 57.3 million streams.
The mixtape remains an Apple Music exclusive until this Friday May 27th.