Drake’s making Billboard history, again, by breaking his own record, again.
Drizzy will chart 21 songs on The Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for March 7th, breaking a record he tied last week when he charted 14 songs. Among those 21 songs is every single track from his latest album, If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late
Every. Single. One.
Those 21 songs represent 42% of the entire chart, and, according to Billboard, land on the charts due to the new streaming rules the company applied to its charts last year
The new songs enter off the strength of downloads and streaming, with every track from the set logging no less than 1.8 million U.S. streams in the week ending Feb. 22, according to Nielsen Music. Of the album’s tracks, “Energy” leads the pack, taking Streaming Gainer honors and increasing by 201 percent (to 4.6 million clicks), with 82 percent stemming from Spotify plays. Sales of the cut also rise (up 21 percent to 77,000 downloads), driving it 4-1 on Rap Digital Songs — his first No. 1 as a lead act (and fourth overall) on the still-young chart.
Here’s a full listing of all the songs the Take Care rapper has featured on the chart.
No. 4 – “Only,” Nicki Minaj, featuring Drake, Lil Wayne & Chris Brown
No. 5 – “Truffle Butter,” Nicki Minaj, featuring Drake & Lil Wayne
No. 9 – “Energy”
No. 16 – “Tuesday,” ILoveMakonnen, featuring Drake
No. 17 – “Legend”
No. 19 – “10 Bands”
No. 22 – “Blessings,” Big Sean, featuring Drake
No. 23 – “Know Yourself” (Debut)
No. 26 – “No Tellin’”
No. 27 – “Preach,” featuring PartyNextDoor
No. 28 – “6 God” (Debut)
No. 29 – “Used To,” featuring Lil Wayne
No. 32 – “Now & Forever”
No. 34 – “6 Man”
No. 38 – “Jungle”
No. 39 – “Star67″ (Debut)
No. 40 – “Madonna” (Debut)
No. 42 – “Company” Featuring Travis Scott” (Debut)
No. 43 – “Wednesday Night Interlude” featuring PartyNextDoor (Debut)
No. 45 – “6PM In New York”
No. 49 – “You & The 6″ (Debut)
There’s no telling what an exploit like this could have done for artist of yesteryear. Who knows how many songs mid-Slim Shady hysteria Eminem could have charted at once. Or DMX when he had two platinum, number one albums in nine months. Or Carter 3 Wayne or Country Grammar/Nellyville Nelly.
Drake’s status is clearly undeniable, his sales numbers and quality of music all warrant his place at the top of the food chain. But it remains to be seen whether some of these records are simply a product of the new system or an actual monumental movement.
But hey, we don’t put an asterisk next to new NBA scoring numbers that occurred after the three-point line was introduced, nor do we blame the players for taking advantage of the advancement. The game changes and the players adapt.
All in the game, yo.
