They don't call him the 6 God for nothing.
In the decade since Drake released Thank Me Later, his debut studio album, there have been very few records that the Canadian rapper hasn't been able to break. And then break again. And then, sometimes, break for a third time. There's a reason he's receiving the Artist of the Decade Award at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards on May 23.
It's been nearly three years since the late June release of Scorpion, his fifth and most recent full-length studio album. The popularity of the LP allowed the former Degrassi star to surpass a milestone marker long held by The Beatles. With seven singles off Scorpion simultaneously charting in the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, he obliterated the iconic British quartet's record of five in 1964. And there's a whole lot more where that came from.
In honor of massive honor, we thought we'd gather every single record Drake's ever broken in the last decade. It took a while and, we'll admit, there's so many of them, we're not even entirely sure we caught them all. And there's a good chance that, if you're reading this, it's too late and he's already broken some more.
2015: Mixtapes If You're Reading This It's Too Late and What a Time to Be Alive both reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200, making him the first hip-hop artist to have two projects do that in the same year since 2004.
2016: Fourth studio album Views spent 13 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1, making him the first male solo artist to do in a decade.
2017: Mixtape More Life became highest-ever streamed album in 24 hours on both Apple Music and Spotify. This year, he won 13 awards at the Billboard Music Awards, the record for most wins in a single show.
2018: "God's Plan" breaks Apple Music and Spotify first-day streaming records. He became the rapper with most top 10 hits on Hot 100. "Nice For What" replacing "God's Plan at No. 1 made him first artist ever to have a new No. 1 debut replace a former No. 1 debut.
Scorpion release breaks More Life's records on Spotify and Apple Music, is the first to ever cross one billion streams in first week. With seven simultaneous singles charting in the top 10, broke The Beatles' record of five from 1964.
2020: "Toosie Slide" debut at No. 1 makes him first male artist to have three songs debut at No. 1 on Hot 100.
2021: In January, he become the first artist to surpass 50 billion combined streams on Spotify.
With the March release of Scary Hours 2, the songs "What's Next," "Wants and Needs" and "Lemon Pepper Freestyle" enter the Hot 100 at No. 1, 2 and 3, respectively. This makes him the first artist to have three songs debut in the top three simultaneously. He joins The Beatles and Ariana Grande as one of three acts to hold the top three spots at the same time, becoming the only male solo artist to do so. With "What's Next" at No. 1, he ups his tally of No. 1 debuts to four, placing him only second to Grande overall with five.
All-Time Accomplishments per Billboard Chart
Hot 100: Most charted songs of any artist in history of Hot 100 at 232; the most simultaneously charted Hot 100 songs in a single week with 27; the most time on the Hot 100 with 431 weeks; and the most Hot 100 debuts in a week with 22.
With 45, he's surpassed Madonna's 38 for most top 10 singles. He has the most top 10 debuts on Hot 100 at 30 and most top 40 singles at 120. He's also the rapper with most No. 1 singles ever, at eight.
Hot Rap Songs Chart: He's the artist with most No. 1 Singles, at 23; spent the most weeks at No. 1 in the first decade of his career, at 118; and when "Make Me Proud" jumped from 97 to 9 on Hot 100 in one week, he tied for largest jump by male artist ever.
R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay Chart: He's the artist with most No. 1 singles, at 27; and the artist with most top 10 hits, at 65.
Rhythmic Chart: Again, he's the artist with the most No. 1 singles, at 32.
And last, but certainly not least, he's The Recording Industry Association of America's top certified singles artist ever, with 163.5 million units moved.
Congrats, Drake!
(Originally published on July 11, 2020, at 12 a.m. PST.)