Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) and Ty Dolla $ign’s collaborative album Vultures 1 mysteriously vanished from Spotify just before midnight on July 11, only to re-appear several hours later without explanation.
The album, which has had a tumultuous release history, remained available on Apple Music, but its sudden disappearance from Spotify left fans and industry insiders puzzled for several hours until it reappeared on the streaming platform.
Vultures 1 has been embroiled in issues from its inception, including delays and canceled listening events.
The album was first removed from Apple Music and iTunes just five days after its release on February 10. On Feb. 15, it returned to Apple Music without explanation.
The album’s distributor, FUGA, had initially declined to release the project, only for it to be delivered through the platform’s automated processes by a long-standing client, violating FUGA’s service agreement.
This led to the album’s temporary removal as FUGA worked with DSP partners to rectify the situation.
The project then faced its first streaming issues on Feb. 14, when Spotify removed “Good (Don’t Die)” from its platform due to claims of “copyright infringement” made by Donna Summer’s estate. The song was later also removed from Amazon Music.
Despite the drama, Vultures 1 debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart on February 24, marking Kanye West’s 11th career No. 1 album and Ty Dolla $ign’s first. The album accumulated 148,000 equivalent album units in its first week in the U.S., according to Luminate data.
Billboard has reached out to Spotify for clarification. However, a few hours later, the album was reinstated, suggesting the disappearance might have been due to a glitch.
The incident follows recent speculation about West’s career. Earlier this week, Rich The Kid shared an alleged text from West claiming he was “retiring from professional music.”
“I am retiring from professional music Not sure what else to do,” Ye wrote in the message while seemingly caught in a state of uncertainty.
Rich replied trying to convince him otherwise: “Retire? Why? How? The ppl NEED you the music you & Ty & we have made the BIGGEST STAMP in culture to this date in 2024. Drop Ye about mine & V2 and we do it all over again the kids need you big bra fasho maybe some time to chill but retiring ain’t it.”
However, Rich The Kid later posted that West would be featured on his upcoming album Life’s A Gamble, set for release on July 19.
The “New Freezer” rapper deleted the text message exchange featuring Ye’s alleged retirement from his Instagram Story about a half-hour after originally posting it.
