Kanye West has consistently tested the effectiveness of cancel culture ever since he proudly donned a MAGA hat, and the DONDA album release is another testament of his influence.
Billboard reports that Ye beat his own record for the most watched livestream in Apple Music history. He hosted two advanced listening events for the project and the second one garnered over 5 million views, meanwhile the first one raked up 3.3 million views.
The previous holders of this record were Jeezy and Gucci Mane for their unforgettable Verzuz battle.
But what’s more impressive than the streaming numbers for an album that’s still not out is the merchandise sales.
The outlet reports that Kanye earned $7 million from in-person sales at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
That’s the same amount the pre-order for the Yeezy x GAP bubble jacket brought in overnight.
“So, I know the jacket sold out. They did $7 million on the jacket overnight,” Mickey Drexler said. “[Kanye] is a smart guy but he shouldn’t have done it. And I don’t think they should have done it, either.”
Although the partnership is lucrative, the former CEO advised the rapper not to do it. “I probably shouldn’t say this but I told him he shouldn’t do the deal because it doesn’t make any sense in my opinion,” said Drexler, who left his Gap CEO post nearly two decades ago. “I have a lot of friends at Gap still, but it doesn’t work for someone like Kanye. He is not a corporate person and Gap is a big corporation.”
