Drake’s One Dance on Friday notched up another record — it is the first song to be played a billion times on Spotify.
The Canadian rapper’s song — which already in October became the most-streamed song ever on Spotify — had been played 1.002 billion times by early Friday.
With a raw funk vibe but minimalist beat, One Dance has been in heavy rotation at clubs and parties this year.
The track, which appears on Drake’s top-charting album Views, features guest vocals by Wizkid, one of Nigeria’s top singers, and British house artist Kyla.
Drake’s totals on Spotify, the largest site in the fast-growing format of streaming, comes even though he has a business tie-up with Apple.
The tech giant, whose upstart Apple Music is trying to catch up with Spotify, released Views exclusively for its first week although individual tracks appeared elsewhere.
Despite Drake’s success, he was surpassed in November for most monthly listeners on Spotify by The Weeknd — a fellow Toronto artist and protege of Drake.
And in a surprise to many music watchers, One Dance was not nominated for Record of the Year or Song of the Year at the Grammy Awards although Drake is up in other categories.
