‘Billboard’ credited the Toronto star for “pushing Hip-Hop further into pop’s center than ever before.”
TORONTO, ONTARIO – NOVEMBER 07: Drake performs at History on November 07, 2024 in Toronto, Ontario.
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Although Drake rose to popularity because of his raps, his wide skillset and sound has garnered him a reputation as a pop star over the years. Billboard is in the midst of rolling out their Greatest Pop Stars Of the 21st Century list, and their latest reveal put Drake at No. 4.
This slot landed Drizzy above other industry titans like JAY-Z, Kanye West, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Britney Spears, and more. As expected with any type of ranking, the results yeilded mixed reactions. Drake supporters defended the artist and said the accolade was well-deserved, while others expressed their disappointment with him being ranked above other superstars.
Starting with the members of the OVO Hive, social media users were quick to point out the 6 God’s impressive stats. “Numbers-wise he’s outta here,” one user reacted as another fan pointed out, “Well deserved [goat emoji]. Bro has almost 80 top 10 singles lmao. He’s like the Lebron of Billboard hits.” Another person wrote, “The bias is insane smh Drake deserves to be top 2 The h3te against him is unreal after everything he has achieved on billboard plus his longevity smh.”
On the flip side, others couldn’t help but compare the “Hotline Bling” rapper to the names that were below him on the list. One person wrote, “Drake being above Britney and Gaga on the list for the greatest 21st century POP stars is nasty f**kin work…everything is a f**kin joke!” Specifying that Drake a rapper and not a pop star was also a sentiment several people shared.
The outlet made sure to explain and emphasize the magnitude of Drake’s chart domination over the years, writing, “No other artist of the period can match his combination of 13 Hot 100 No. 1 singles and 13 Billboard 200 No. 1 albums — only The Beatles, who Drake got tattooed on his left forearm in 2019 after passing one of their Billboard benchmarks, can claim the same historically — and no other artist of any time is even within earshot of his 338 career Hot 100 entries, an all-time mark he first passed in 2020 and has put farther in his rearview every year since.”
Music lovers on X also weighed in on which artists would most likely make up the top slots that still remained, with many people agreeing on three names: Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and Rihanna.
Following the blockbuster rap beef this earlier against Kendrick Lamar, Drake took a brief hiatus and returned with his 100 GIGS release. The massive content dump included hours of unreleased video footage, studio sessions, and more. Songs that were included in the release were “Circadian Rhythm,” “It’s Up” featuring Young Thug and 21 Savage, and “Housekeeping Knows” featuring Latto, the last of which he recently surprise-performed in Toronto.
