The Mystery Behind Donda 2's Streaming Surge

Forbes

A three-year-old Kanye West album, “Donda 2,” appeared on streaming services for the first time late Tuesday night, marking his first release on Spotify since last summer as the rapper has increasingly embraced Nazi rhetoric, though the album doesn't appear under the rapper’s name.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2025/04/30/the-confusing-circumstances-of-kanye-wests-donda-2-climbing-streaming-charts-explained/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00A three-year-old Kanye West album, Donda 2, has appeared on streaming services for the

00:05first time late Tuesday night, marking his first release on Spotify since last summer.

00:12Donda 2 now appears on multiple streaming platforms, including on iTunes, where it

00:16ranks number four on the album sales chart. The album is available under the artist name

00:22Donda, West's mother's name, which is also the namesake of his 2021 album Donda,

00:27and not under West's name, though it is unclear why. On Wednesday morning, West posted a screenshot

00:34on X of texts appearing to show producers on the album complaining about the album's release,

00:39and accusing West of owing them money, including Boogs, likely referring to album producer Boogs

00:45DeBeast, also alleging their lawyers are working on taking the album down. West released the album

00:51to streaming platforms while on a live stream with the popular streamer Sneeko and far-right

00:56streamer Nick Fuentes, who has spread anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and once dined with West

01:02and President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago. West has strayed from streaming platforms in recent years,

01:08and initially made Donda 2 available only on a music-playing device he co-developed.

01:13Some of the songs on Donda 2 deal with West's relationship with ex-wife Kim Kardashian,

01:19with whom he was in the middle of a divorce when the album was first released.

01:22West's recent music releases have arrived amid a period of erratic behavior for the rapper,

01:28who frequently posts and deletes rants on social media, many of which are explicit and contain

01:34various slurs and Nazi rhetoric. The rapper's renewed controversies followed his anti-Semitic

01:40remarks in 2022, which ended his business relationship with Adidas and prompted his fall from billionaire

01:46status. For more on these stories, check out Connor Murray's articles linked in the description.

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