Drake is bulldozing the competition on the Billboard tally and shattering records in the process.
The rapper’s ‘Scorpion’ album was always bound for chart glory, but the persistent question centered on how big could he bow.
Well, Toronto’s superstar has answered back in emphatic fashion.
Head below for the full story on his chart stronghold…
The Album
On this week’s Billboard 200 count, ‘Scorpion’ opens at #1 with 732,000 equivalent album sales.
When diving into the pure sales figure (160,000), it becomes more than clear that the feat was turbo-powered by streaming.
The project, which becomes Drizzy’s 8th album chart topper, amassed a whopping 745.92 million US spins of its songs during its first week – meaning it’s now snatched the record for the the most streamed album week of all-time.
The set also serves as the highest debut amongst all albums released thus far this year.
On the global front, ‘Scorpion’ has become the first LP to top 1 billion streams total in one week.
The Songs
In an unprecedented, record-breaking feat, Drake has placed a colossal 7 songs in the top 10 of this week’s Billboard Hot 100.
By doing so, Aubrey bests the previous of five record set by The Beatles – a record they held since 1964.
In adding five new top 10 entries, the 32-year-old now has a combined tally of 31 top 10s on the count. This means he now passes Michael Jackson to become the male solo artist with the most Billboard Hot 100 top 10 entries. Ironically, MJ earns his 30th solo entry on via Drake’s ‘Don’t Matter To Me.’ [For what it’s worth, the King Of Pop still boasts 11 entries if counting his stint in the Jackson 5.]
Here’s how the song-specific list looks:
Rank this week, Title (Rank last week)
No. 1, “Nice for What” (No. 6; eighth week at No. 1)
No. 2, “Nonstop” (debut this week)
No. 4, “God’s Plan” (No. 9; previously spent 11 weeks at No. 1)
No. 6, “In My Feelings” (debut this week)
No. 7, “I’m Upset” (No. 26; previously reached No. 15)
No. 8, “Emotionless” (debut this week)
No. 9, “Don’t Matter to Me,” featuring Michael Jackson (debut this week)
Drake now ties ex-flame Rihanna for the third-most Hot 100 top 10s, while he and Jackson become only the fourth and fifth acts to reach the milestone of at least 30 top 10s.
So, with all the slayage this week, here is an updated look at the acts with the most Hot 100 top 10s, dating to the chart’s debut on August 4th 1958:
38, Madonna
34, The Beatles
31, Drake
31, Rihanna
30, Michael Jackson
28, Mariah Carey
28, Stevie Wonder
27, Janet Jackson
27, Elton John
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Congrats to Drake.
We’re not sure the album needed to be 25 tracks and it’s arguable that several of the feats above are due of the sheer number of songs (see: Chris Brown’s ‘Heartbreak’ project).
That said, to deny the Drake phenomenon would be to deny that water is wet.
He’s playing the game and slaying the game in a major way and on his terms, so more power to him.