Rapper Kendrick Lamar’s new album has broken the first-day streaming record on Spotify after its surprise early release.
The site, which has 60 million users, says To Pimp a Butterfly was listened to more than 9.6 million times around the world on Monday.
The album had been due for release on 23 March and some reports suggested it had been released by mistake on Sunday night.
Rumours increased after Anthony Tiffith, boss of Lamar’s record label Top Dawg Entertainment, appeared to criticise Interscope Records on Twitter for their role in the confusion.
Some claimed his tweet was, in fact, a publicity stunt.
The unexpected nature of the release gave an advantage to Spotify and its rivals, such as Rhapsody, Google Play and Deezer.
The album was taken down for hours by digital store iTunes and, with no physical copies out yet, streaming services were temporarily one of the main places to hear it.