Apple Music Replay and Spotify lists prove Drake is still king
Kendrick Lamar might have won the rap beef, but Drake won the war. Apple Music and Spotify released their year-end lists today and the internet has been ablaze since. It’s kind of funny too, everybody is talking about Taylor Swift being the most streamed artist on both platforms, but it seems like they want to ignore No. 2. Despite losing the rap beef, people being ‘tired’ of him, and even without releasing an album this year, Drake is still somehow the second-highest streaming artist in the world, and yes that includes Kendrick Lamar.
Apple Music Replay ranked Drake as the highest-streaming male artist of 2024. Spotify Wrapped ranked Drake as the fourth-highest streaming artist this year worldwide, trailing Taylor Swift, The Weeknd and Bad Bunny. In the U.S., though, Drake reigns supreme again as he is the highest-streaming male artist on Spotify, as well. The issue is, based on social media you would think the exact opposite.
Since the Kendrick Lamar beef ended, Drake has been in a space he’s never been before. People are eager and awaiting his downfall; whether that be his peers in rap like Rick Ross or Metro Boomin or even the regular joes on Twitter, it seems like everybody was ready for the end of Drake. According to these year-end data charts, you might be waiting awhile, or at the very minimum at least another year. The data shows that Drake is still streaming quite well, better than anyone not named Taylor Swift. Literally.
What about Kendrick? Let’s take a look. On Apple Music and Spotify, “Not Like Us” performed very well. It was the most-streamed song on Apple Music this year and the second most-streamed song on Spotify. Unfortunately, it looks like that was the only song of Kendrick’s that did major streaming numbers because Kendrick finished outside the top 5 on both lists. On Spotify Lamar trails Taylor Swift, Zach Bryan, Morgan Wallen, Kanye West, and of course his mortal enemy Drake. On Apple Music, he ranked as the seventh-highest streaming artist.
What these lists proved is the internet isn’t a fair judge of reality but instead portrays favoritism and relevancy. As much as Twitter or Instagram users wanted to act like Drake was canceled, the data proves otherwise. People are still playing Drake at an outstanding pace and they are listening to him way more than his counterpart Kendrick Lamar. You might not like Drake or you might even prefer Kendrick, but when it comes to music and streaming, DJ Akademiks was right. Drake and Kendrick Lamar are not in the same class music wise, and your hate for Drake won’t change that.
