Billboard announces Drake as the No.1 Hip Hop/Rnb artist of the 21st century. This title was given to him based on how his songs have performed on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts from January 2000 to December 2024.
Drake has 30 songs that went No.1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart as well as 15 albums that achieved the same feat on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. He first emerged on the charts in 2009 with his song Best I Ever Had, which did not rise to the top immediately, but was the outro track for his album Thank Me Later, which reached the top spot on the Billboard 200 in 2010. Since then, Drake has been a dominating force in music globally.
He has 135 songs that made it into the top 10 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and a grand total of 355 total chart entries. His albums spent a combined 67 weeks topping the charts, a testament to the size and engagement of his audience.
Behind Drake on this list is Beyonce (No.2) and The Weeknd (No.3). Other artists like Jay-Z, Rihanna and Eminem also made it onto this list.
Drake’s public perception took a major hit in 2024 as a result of his feud with Compton rapper Kendrick Lamar. Both artists released multiple tracks in an attempt to tear each other down in classic rap battle fashion. Lamar’s track Not Like Us went number one for many weeks in a row, causing an unavoidable split in public opinion, with fans picking sides and adding fuel to the fire.
Following this, Drake released his album $ome $exy $ongs 4 U, which swiftly took the #1 spot on the Billboard charts. Despite the corruption of his image in the public eye, his popularity remained unchanged. He currently has 82.1 million monthly listeners on Spotify, while Lamar is not far behind at 77 million.
Drake is currently working on his new album ICEMAN, which is likely to come out later this year. Fans are unsure what to expect sonically and lyrically from this upcoming project, but speculate that it will contain themes of betrayal, disloyalty and mistrust, similar to those present on his latest single What Did I Miss?