Tory Lanez’s “The Color Violet” Reaches Historic Spotify Milestone

Tory Lanez has maintained his musical career in spite of his legal troubles. The Canadian rapper and singer is currently serving a decade in prison for shooting Megan Thee Stallion. Most people assumed his career would come to a screeching halt as a result. Miraculously, Tory Lanez has stayed relevant. He has continued to drop new songs and coin new release series. On December 16, however, Lanez’s pop culture relevance reached a new height. The singer’s 2021 song “The Color Violet” reached a billion streams on Spotify.

Tory Lanez’s song becomes the latest song to join the exclusive billion stream club. Other Canadian stars who have achieved this impressive feat include “Starboy” by The Weeknd and “One Dance” by Drake. It is not an easy milestone to hit, but “The Color Violet” is a unique entry on this list. Tory Lanez’s song has managed to reach a billion streams despite not being featured in any of Spotify’s editorial playlisting. It’s reached this impressive number solely on the strength of the singer’s dedicated fanbase. Tory Lanez has accused Spotify of not incorporating his music into its playlists since 2021.

He hopped on Instagram to criticize the platform for trying to bury his songs. He also noted that he is an independent artist. “I just ask at this point, I get treated fairly,” he wrote. “As an independent artist and as a Black Business. I actively still make the platforms money with my music.” Tory Lanez then claimed that the platform should be giving him a “fair” shake despite his complicated personal life. He deemed it “not right” of Spotify to “censor” his art. “It should not be right for any platform to censor and silene me from the editorial playlist,” he concluded. “Or home pages of these platforms. [They] help to give eyeballs to young artists. I stayed coll [sic] for the last 2 projects, but this is just not fair.”

“The Color Violet” represents a first on multiple fronts. It’s the first Tory Lanez song to reach a billion streams on Spotify. It’s also the first song by an independent artist to reach a billion streams. This speaks to Lanez’s fervent fans, as well as his ability to promote and cater to them. Tory Lanez recently appeared on the DDG song “Handling Business,” where he talked about the Megan Thee Stallion shooting in detail.