Rihanna dropped 'Anti' and is racking up streams on Tidal
The Barbadian pop artist is dominating with her new release
In one day, Rihanna managed to dominate pop music first with the reveal of her first single 'Work' that reintroduced her fellow pop-rap icon Drake and finally, ending the day with the surprise release of her entire eighth studio album, 'Anti'.
Though for the week, 'Anti' remains streaming exclusively on Tidal, Rihanna has already chosen to give away a select few free download codes (available even to non-subscribers of Tidal) through a Tweet.
And despite Tidal's dismal reputation amgonst the streaming platform population, it seems as though Rihanna's sudden reappearance with 'Anti' is enough to garner users to tune back in. In less than 15 hours since its release, 'Anti' has already been streamed more than 13 million times. The stream numbers do not include the free downloads of the album Rihanna gave away, meaning that the total stream count is likely much, much higher.
Between the morning release of 'Work' and the unprecedented evening release of the album in full, Tidal accidentally leaked Rihanna's entire track list and the actual through the platform before quickly rescinding the release.
Her album features a cover of Tame Impala's 'New Person, Same Old Mistakes', a collaboration with SZA and the aforementioned 'Work' track with Drake, but leaves behind her single hits like 'FourFiveSeconds' and "Bitch Better Have My Money' that she debuted last year. 'Anti' is the first album Rihanna has released since 2012 with 'Unapologetic'.
Valerie Lee is the West Coast Editor of Mixmag. Follow her on Twitter