Drake had a bad summer. He lost the battle against Kendrick Lamar. He also had to watch Lamar’s “Not Like Us” become the biggest song in the country. It was played in so many places that Steph Curry got sick of hearing it. However, Lamar not only won the discourse war, but also the streaming war. His numbers rose during the battle while Drake’s dropped noticeably. The tide has turned, however. The 6 God is finding his footing again in a post-“Not Like Us” world, according to Spotify.
Hip Hop all day confirmed that Drake reached a major milestone on August 9. The rapper reached 74.9 million monthly listeners on Spotify, making him the rapper with the second most monthly listeners on the entire platform. More importantly, though, he surpassed Kendrick Lamar. K. Dot was on a roll in May and June. During the dispute, he was able to attract 74.7 million monthly listeners. As a Billboard According to the article, the success of Lamar’s diss songs actually boosted streams of his previous albums as well. The Compton emcee’s entire catalog saw a 49% increase from May 3 to May 6. Drake’s, on the other hand, saw a 5% drop.
Drake has the second most monthly listeners among rappers
The damage the fight did to Drake’s credibility is one thing. However, the damage the fight did to his streaming numbers is another. That said, he didn’t do much damage. He is still one of the most successful artists in the world, as evidenced by the colossal numbers he pulls in on Spotify. Eminem is the only rapper to have more monthly listeners than Drake. Significantly, Eminem is the only rapper to have sold more albums than Drake in terms of physical units. That being said, the 6 God has Slim Shady in the total streams department. Em recently hit 50 billion total streams on Spotify, making him the second rapper to do so. Want to guess the first? You’re right. Drake tops Spotify’s all-time streams list with an incredible 101 billion streams.
Things are getting even better for Drizzy. The Toronto superstar recently broke another Spotify record. According to This grape juiceDrake became the first artist in history to have 17 individual songs surpass the one billion streams mark. The rapper’s 2022 number one single, “Jimmy Cooks,” was the pinnacle. He previously held the Spotify record of 16 songs with Rihanna and Bad Bunny, but now he’s alone. And it sounds like new music from Drake is imminent.
About the author
Elias is a music writer at HotNewHipHop. He joined the site in 2024 and covers a wide range of topics including pop culture, film, sports, and of course hip hop. He posts work for HNHH Monday through Friday, especially when it comes to covering new albums and singles. His favorite artists are Andre 3000, MF Doom, Kanye West pre-808, and Tyler, The Creator. He loves LA hip hop, but not LA sports teams. The first album he ever bought was Big Willie Style by Will Smith, which he says is still a pretty good listen.
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