Drake Surges to Billboard Top 1, Toppling Kendrick Lamar in Feud Battle

Last Sunday marked a significant milestone for Drake as he achieved his 14th number-one album on the Billboard 200 chart with “Some Sexy Songs 4 U,” his joint effort with PartyNextDoor that was released on Valentine’s Day.

In a surprising turn of events, the 38-year-old musician from Canada has dethroned Kendrick Lamar, pushing his sixth studio album, GNX, down to the third position on the charts after a run of 13 consecutive weeks at No. 1.

In the United States, during the week that ended last Thursday, Drake (previously known as Aubrey Graham) and the Canadian artist Jahron Brathwaite, who is 31 years old, collectively achieved a total of 287 million on-demand song streams and sold 25,000 albums. When you combine these figures, this equates to 246,000 equivalent album units as reported by Billboard’s Luminate data.

Currently, the five-time Grammy awardee has equalized Taylor Swift and Jay-Z’s record by achieving an equal number of No. 1 hit albums on the 69-year-long Billboard 200 chart; The Beatles remain the leaders with a total of 19 such records to their name.

For a significant portion of the previous year, Drake found himself in a heated, very public dispute with Kendrick. In response, he produced four tracks (Push Ups, Taylor Made Freestyle, Family Matters, and The Heart Part 6) that humorously criticized various aspects of Kendrick’s life, including his short stature, allegations related to domestic/sex abuse, the terms of his record deal, and his collaborations with Taylor Swift and Maroon 5.

Lamar appears to have emerged victorious in their feud following the publication of five songs (such as “Like That,” “Euphoria,” “6:16 in LA,” “Meet the Grahams,” and “Not Like Us”) that allegedly implicate the OVO Sound co-founder with Ozempic use, pedophilia, and claims about an 11-year-old child who is not acknowledged as his legitimate daughter.

On November 25, Drake escalated his rap feud with Universal Music Group by filing a lawsuit claiming they employed ‘bots and a payola scheme’ to artificially boost the streaming numbers of the 37-year-old Pulitzer Prize-winning poet’s diss track “Not Like Us” illegally.

Initially, it seems unexpected that these competitive rappers worked together harmoniously. They collaborated on Drake’s 2011 album ‘Take Care’, Kendrick Lamar’s 2012 song ‘Poetic Justice’, and A$AP Rocky’s 2013 track ‘F* Problems’.

In the year 2012, the dynamic duo joyfully embarked on a tour together as part of Drake’s highly successful Club Paradise Tour, which grossed approximately $42.6 million across 65 performances.

Starting from April 19 at the U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Kendrick and the former rapper of Nokia (SZA) will launch their joint 39-date Grand National Tour, which they are co-headlining.

On the upcoming days, specifically this Monday and Tuesday, Drake will be performing at Australia’s Brisbane Entertainment Centre as part of his Anita Max Win Tour with a total of 16 dates scheduled.

The award-winning producer is additionally responsible for the production process during the eighth episodes of the third season of Sam Levinson’s intense drama series, Euphoria. Filming for this season started on February 10.

In a personal context, Drake has a 7-year-old son named Adonis Mahbed Graham with the French artist Sophie Brussaux.