Started From the Bottom, now he’s here — is it still acceptable to say that?
On Tuesday afternoon, both Apple Music and Spotify revealed their respective annual numbers for their most-listened to artists.
It became clear that Drake (Aubrey Graham) was the king of streaming in 2018. He now holds the title for most-streamed musician of all-time.
God’s Plan topped both platforms for the most popular single, while Scorpion (2018) took the title of most popular album. Spotify shared that Drake had accumulated more than 8.2 billion streams in 2018 alone.
READ MORE: Drake just beat a record held by The Beatles since 1964
Following the 32-year-old and completing Spotify’s Top 5 artists list came rapper Post Malone, XXXTentacion, J. Balvin and Ed Sheeran, who was the most-listened-to artist in 2017, thanks to the success of his third studio album, Divide.
Apple Music’s statistics came in the form of a “Best of 2018” list, which Drake absolutely crushed.
Ariana Grande also earned her position as this year’s No. 1 reigning goddess across the board. She was followed by Dua Lipa, Cardi B, Taylor Swift and Camila Cabello to round out the top five female musicians of 2018.
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Earlier in the year, Drake gave The Beatles a run for their money when he claimed the record for most Top 10 singles to reach the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in a calendar year. The record was held by the Liverpool lads for more than 54 years — since the height of Beatlemania.
The 12 charters came from a number of collaborations as well as a handful of tracks from Scorpion. He reached the No. 1 Billboard spot with Nice for What, In My Feelings and God’s Plan.
Drake has now sold more than 95 million records worldwide.
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As of this writing, there are no official Drake tour dates, with a handful yet to be rescheduled for the Aubrey and the Three Migos tour.
Congratulations on a hugely successful year, Drake. How could such an accolade possibly be topped in 2019?
adam.wallis@globalnews.ca