Views

Views is the fourth studio album by Canadian rapper Drake. It was released on April 29, 2016, by Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records and Republic Records. The album includes the production primarily handled by his longtime and frequent collaborator 40, alongside these several additional producers such as Nineteen85, Maneesh Bidaye, Kanye West and Jordan Ullman, among others. The album was supported by the five singles: "Hotline Bling", "One Dance" featuring Wizkid and Kyla, "Pop Style" featuring The Throne, "Controlla" and "Too Good" featuring Rihanna.
Views was met with lukewarm reviews from critics, many of whom found it to be an overlong retread of Drake's previous work. The album nonetheless achieved chart success, remaining at number one on the US Billboard 200 for 12 weeks. "One Dance" became Drake's first Billboard Hot 100 number-one single as a lead artist, spending 10 weeks at number one.
The album's title was first announced as Views from the 6, as it first appeared from a report in a July 2014 article from Billboard. According to Drake on Twitter, "the 6" is a reference to his hometown of Toronto, Canada. On April 28, 2016, it was revealed that the title had been shortened to Views. The cover artwork for Views was released via Drake's Twitter account on April 24, 2016, which features Drake sitting atop the CN Tower in Toronto. The fact that Drake was significantly larger than life-size on the cover was widely discussed, and CN Tower's Twitter account later confirmed it to be photoshopped.
OVO Sound Radio premiered Drake's single, called "Summer Sixteen", which was released for digital download on January 30, 2016. The track was produced by his longtime and frequent collaborators 40 and Boi-1da, alongside the duo Cubeatz. The song contains a slowed-down sample of "Glass Tubes" performed by Brian Bennett. The cover art was designed by Filip Pągowski, who is the creator of the Comme des Garçons logo. The song peaked at number 6 on the US Billboard Hot 100, selling 215,000 copies in its first week, making it the highest debut sales of Drake's career. On March 26, 2016, the single has sold 358,032 copies in the United States.
On April 4, 2016, the album initially was teased in London, England. On April 9, Drake posted the trailer for Views on Twitter. Drake opened the "pop-up" stores, with him given away free black and white T-shirts with "Views" written on the front. 40 then said that the mixes for the clean versions were finished, as well as having all sample clearances and credits finalized. On April 26, Drake revealed that Views would feature 20 songs, more than on any previous albums, excluding the bonus tracks. After making his last stop at the "pop-up" store in Toronto, Drake released the official album cover on social media. On April 29, the album was premiered on Apple Music's OVO Sound Radio show, following his interview with Beats 1's radio host Zane Lowe, and released it on both Apple Music and iTunes exclusively.