Drake cemented his position as the undisputed streaming king of rap in 2023, amassing a staggering 17.6 billion streams on Spotify alone. This crowning achievement solidifies his dominance in the genre, even as whispers of tension with producer Metro Boomin swirled last month.
While Taylor Swift held the overall streaming record on the platform, Drake’s number dwarfed all other rappers, proving his enduring popularity. It’s a fitting feat for the artiste who once declared, “Taylor Swift the only n-gga that I ever rated.”
Beyond his individual prowess, Drake also played a key role in Her Loss, a collaborative album with 21 Savage that’s currently reigning as the “Rap Album of the Year.” Despite these accolades, questions arose when Metro Boomin’s “Heroes & Villains” surpassed any rap album’s single-year stream count since 2018. Though Her Loss still held the top album title, Metro’s deleted comment questioning award show legitimacy sparked rumours of tension with Drake.
However, both artistes quickly quashed the beef rumours, with Metro clarifying that the disagreement was “not deep at all.” Ultimately, 2023 belonged to Drake, who proved his streaming supremacy while collaborating on another chart-topping project. Whether he’ll reclaim the “Rap Album of the Year” crown in 2024 remains to be seen, but one thing’s certain: Drake’s reign as the streaming king of rap shows no signs of slowing down.
