Drake’s high ranking on Billboard’s “Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century” list has ignited an impassioned debate about the legitimacy of Drizzy’s rap artist designation.
Many laud Drizzy for his illustrious career and voluminous chart-topping records, while many others decry the fact that Aubrey Drake Graham, who’s known as Drake around the globe, was exalted higher up the musical stratum than the likes of Britney Spears and Lady Gaga.
Billboard justifies Drake’s ranking in the upper echelon of music
Billboard rationalizes its placement of Drake near the pinnacle of pop music by outlining his unprecedented success on the music charts.
“From a sheer chart numbers perspective, Drake’s accomplishments simply dwarf every other artist of the 21st century,” writes Billboard. “No other artist of the period can match his combination of 13 Hot 100 No. 1 singles and 13 Billboard 200 No. 1 albums — only The Beatles, who Drake got tattooed on his left forearm in 2019 after passing one of their Billboard benchmarks, can claim the same historically — and no other artist of any time is even within earshot of his 338 career Hot 100 entries.”
Some fans celebrate Drake’s ranking
Starting with the members of the OVO Hive, social media users were quick to point out Drake’s impressive stats. “Numbers-wise he’s outta here,” one fan mentioned, while another fan pointed out, “Well deserved [goat emoji]. Bro has almost 80 top 10 singles lmao. He’s like the Lebron of Billboard hits.” A third person added, “The bias is insane smh Drake deserves to be top 2 The h3te against him is unreal after everything he has achieved on billboard plus his longevity smh.”
Other fans protest Drake’s ranking
Not everyone celebrated Drake’s listing on the Billboard list, noting that the “You’re the Best” rapper could not have impacted pop culture more than other icons in the genre.
“Drake being above Britney and Gaga on the list for the greatest 21st century POP stars is nasty fkin work… everything is a fkin joke!” one user wrote. Others highlight the fact that Drake, who is considered a rapper, shouldn’t be listed as a “pop star” and therefore should have been omitted from this list.
