One Direction's "Drag Me Down" set a new record of 4.75 million plays upon release on July 31. The ballad is also on the top of the Apple Music Chart.
The song was estimated to have earned $33,250 on its first day, with Spotify paying 1D's company $0.007 per stream. On the following days, the ardent song continued performing excellently at 3.11 million streams per day resulting to an estimate of $21,700 daily earnings.
Success on the first day in the music chart is uncommon. Songs usually require time and promotions before going up. Nonetheless, Spotify is also pushing the hit through a prominent banner ad on the browser of the platform, Forbes reported.
"Drag Me Down" is One Direction's fifth album since their debut in 2010. The band is currently on their "On the Road Again Tour."
Meanwhile, "Can't Feel My Face" by The Weeknd is also doing well on number two with 962,576 plays.
While previous releases of 1D are uploaded in their official Vevo account on YouTube, "Drag Me Down" was not, Music Business Worldwide reported.
Music Industry experts conclude that One Direction's labels Syco Music and Columbia Records are joining the big three music labels, Universal Music Group, Sony Music, and Warner Music, in venturing on music streaming platforms outside YouTube.
In the past, the big three has claimed that YouTube is not compensating artists enough for their music. The music viewing public, however, worries that with fewer companies releasing their music on YouTube, there will be less free ad-supported music videos.