Gwen Stefani has followed in the footsteps of fellow female pop stars Adele and Taylor Swift by shunning top music streaming service Spotify. Stefani is now poised to also emulate their chart success after doing so, as she is now on track to score her first No. 1 album on the Billboard charts.
While Stefani has chosen not to stream her new album This Is What The Truth Feels Like on Spotify, she has made the disc available for streaming on competitors Apple Music and Tidal. The reason for the Spotify exclusion appears to be the streaming service's free tier, which the majority of Spotify subscribers listen to, and which offers artists little in terms of compensation for the streaming of their tracks.
Recently, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek tweeted that the company has reached a significant milestone in that it has amassed 30 million subscribers on its paid tier. With more than 100 million subscriptions overall, however, that still means 70 million plus subscribers would be able to avail themselves of Stefani's new disc without paying anything to do so. Adele and Taylor Swift had similar objections, which also led them to choose not to stream their most recent albums on Spotify. Despite the exclusion, both singers' discs subsequently hit No. 1 on Billboard's Top 200 Album chart in their first week of release
Now it appears as if Stefani's Spotify snub hasn't hurt her either and may indeed have helped her on the way to her very first No. 1 album on Billboard's chart. The company reports the collection should hit about 80,000 album equivalent sales for its first week of release, which should be enough to put the former lead singer of No Doubt at the top. Stefani's two previous solo discs, her 2004 debut, "Love. Angel. Music. Baby." and "The Sweet Escape" from 2006 peaked at No. 5 and 3, respectively.
Stefani's latest collection includes the critically acclaimed first single "Used To Love You" which offered a raw look into the singers emotions following the breakup of her marriage to Gavin Rossdale. Stefani says she similarly poured her heart and soul into the entire album.
"By staying true to yourself and your beliefs through work, the overall process can be very therapeutic." she explains. "With my current record, This Is What The Truth Feels Like, I had a huge wave of inspiration and just went in and recorded song after song. Music can be extremely powerful, especially when writing about your own life. There's purity in that."
It appears music fans have responded to Stefani's honesty and have rewarded her with a career first No. 1 solo album. It also shows remarkable staying power for the pop star, as her new disc is set to top the album chart a full 20 years since her debut with No Doubt, "Tragic Kingdom", did the same in 1996.
