After a month-long delay due to COVID-19, Ashanti and Keyshia Cole finally came together for their Verzuz battle. Following the successful event, Swizz Beatz and Timbaland’s platform revealed that their first battle of 2021 has already shattered their previous record.
On Saturday night (Jan. 24), Verzuz released the full analytics for Ashanti vs. Keyshia Cole, which streamed across Instagram, Apple Music, and other unofficial streaming platforms. The data shows that over 8.1 million viewers tuned in to watch the event on their preferred streaming platform. On Instagram, Ashanti vs. Keyshia Cole set a new record with over 6 million viewers.
The record on Instagram was also previously held by Jeezy vs. Gucci Mane, which racked up 5.5 million viewers on Instagram. However, the iconic match-up between the former foes still remains the most successful battle with 9.1 million views across all streaming platforms. It’s also the highest tweeted battle to date. Later on in their thread, Verzuz confirmed that Ashanti vs. Keyshia is the second-highest tweeted battle in the platform’s history. Prior to both battles, Monica vs. Brandy held the record.
The Verzuz platform plans to continue honoring the legends in hip hop, and in the sports world as well. Earlier this week, Swizz Beatz and Timbaland spoke about their new partnership with the NFL to host a series of Verzuz battles with competitive highlight reels of the greatest football players. Swizz also revealed his idea to set up a battle between the late Notorious B.I.G and Tupac Shakur.
“My dream one, I want to figure out how to do Pac and Biggie in a way that the people is gonna really love it,” Swizz said. Timbaland replied with some excitement after hearing Swizz’s top picks. “I got a couple ideas. I’ma text you,” he said.
Hopefully, the next Verzuz battle will set new records for the platform.