Drake overtakes Justin Bieber on Spotify to become world's most streamed artist and releases new album date

Drake has overtaken fellow Canadian Justin Bieber as the most streamed artist on Spotify.

He's achieved that despite having a deal with the company's rival Apple Music, where he initially released his latest record Views as an exclusive.

Up until Wednesday, Drake had 3.21 billion streams globally, compared with 3.18 billion for Justin Bieber, according to music aggregator Kworb.

The site compiles figures that appear on Spotify's various charts.That means that actual numbers are higher as it doesn't include streams when songs don't enter the top 200. Ed Sheeran is well behind in third place at 2.15 billion, followed by another Canadian, The Weeknd. Drake's surge to take him past Justin Bieber comes days after Views became available on Spotify after an exclusive two-week period on Apple Music.

The songs on the album, including Hotline Bling, were streamed 245.1 million times in the US in the week after its release on 29 April.

That beat the previous record set by Justin Bieber's Purpose in November.

Meanwhile, Views has become the first album released in 2016 to sell more than a million copies in America, according to tracking service Nielsen Music.

Drake has said that Views pays tribute to his hometown of Toronto in Canada.

He'd spoken about the project for two years but put out two mix tapes that both topped the US album chart in that time.

 Drake says his new album, Views from the 6, will come out on 29 April.

It's thought Beyonce will appear on the rapper's first studio album since Nothing Was the Same in 2013.

Drake, who's been putting Views from the 6 together for nearly two years, revealed the release date on Twitter.

He also posted a short preview video that features the Canadian entertaining himself, some dancers and plenty of shots of his hometown, Toronto, including the landmark CN Tower. The title of the album is an apparent reference to the city.

In 1998 authorities incorporated six separate municipalities into a mega-city, a move which has been studied by urban planners ever since.

Drake released two separate mixtapes last year. If You're Reading This It's Too Late, which the rapper initially released on iTunes, was the sixth top selling "album" in the US last year and was nominated for the best rap album Grammy.

The release led to Drake headlining a number of major festivals including Coachella in California last year.

Drake's new track One Dance is in at 21 on the Official Singles Chart this week and is also at number four on the iTunes chart.

In February Drake revealed that he'd signed with UK independent label Boy Better Know.

And instead of going to a regular after party, following his performance at the Brits with Rihanna - Drake went to a small venue in east London and made a surprise appearance with rappers Section Boyz.