Drake‘s Certified Lover Boy has already asserted its dominance on the charts, topping the Billboard 200 with the year’s biggest sales week (613,000 units) and Spotify streaming debut (743.7 million on-demand streams) while claiming nine of the top 10 spots on the Billboard Hot 100.
While much of the build-up to CLB’s September 3 release saw Drake pitted against Kanye West, who released his own new album Donda less than a week prior, the enormous success of the Toronto rapper’s latest effort is drawing comparisons to an even more rarified music legend.
On Saturday (September 18), Billboard posted a tweet posing the question, “Is Drake in 2021 now as big as Michael Jackson or The Beatles at their peaks?” along with an article examining the factors behind Certified Lover Boy’s chart dominance.
For one, CLB’s aforementioned nine top 10 hits means Drake has broken Michael Jackson’s record for the most Billboard Hot 100 top 10’s from the same album. Previously, MJ’s 1982 blockbuster Thriller posted seven songs in the top 10, a feat that stood for 37 years.
Drake also outranks Michael Jackson in terms of most No. 1 albums (10 to MJ’s 6), most top 10 singles (54 to MJ’s 30), most consecutive weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 (431) and most Hot 100 entries, period (258).
However, Michael Jackson still reigns supreme over Drake when it comes to the most consecutive No. 1 singles (5 to Drake’s 2). Thriller, meanwhile, remains the best-selling album of all time with a reported 100 million copies sold worldwide.
Needless to say, Billboard’s tweet set off a passionate debate between Drake and Michael Jackson’s respective fans as they compared the 6 God’s record-breaking run to the King of Pop’s enduring popularity.
“NOBODY, was, is, or will be at the level of Michael Jackson,” one fan replied on Twitter. “A genius like him can only be seen once.” Another added, “The Cultural impact of Michael crushes everything drake has done… Michael’s music is literally WORLDWIDE impactful. Drake is not touching that at this point.”
The conversation even spilled over on to Instagram after DJ Akademiks posed Billboard’s question to his 4.4 million followers.
“Drake is Gen-Z version of Michael Jackson lol,” one follower commented, while another shut down the comparisons by writing, “Micheal Jackson had grown men fainting and he ain’t do shit but stand there.”
Fat Joe Feels Twitter's Wrath After He Says Drake Is 'The Michael Jackson Of This Time'
Last year, Fat Joe shared his two cents on the topic by hailing Drake as “the Michael Jackson of this time” on Instagram Live, which drew the ire of MJ fans on social media.
While Drake has yet to weigh in on the debate, he might not be so quick to modestly dismiss the lofty comparison. “Not sure if you know but I’m actually Michael Jackson/The man I see in the mirror is actually goin’ platinum,” he rapped on CLB’s “You Only Live Twice.”
Check out more reactions to the Drake vs. Michael Jackson debate below.
Michael sold millions of records when the internet wasn’t in existence . The internet is the cheat for a lot of your favorite artist
I respect Drake’s accomplishment but people tend to forget that Mj and Beatles had to actually release singles to get their song to chart whilst now if you stream an album the count goes to the song. So there would have been no way in 1984 that drake would have had 9 songs in the top 10 chart fromCLB unless he released them as single or to radio. For example, MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This” peaked at No. 8 on the Hot 100 chart because it was released only as a 12-inch single whilst the Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘EM album was No. 1 for 21 weeks. If released today and the album doing the same number, U Can’t Touch This would have definitely reached number one.
So you cannot compare era. Drake is great but he hasn’t even got a diamond album.
Exactly
I wish people would stop with these stupid comparisons. Drakes not even as hot as 50cent or nelly was.
Drakes not as hot as ja rule ???
To be honest, he’s really not
“Numbers to back it up?” Hahahaha. Michale Jackson didn’t buy millions of his own albums and throw them away. What’s the catchy single off of this album being bumped anywhere? I’m waiting. The click farm shit is real. Dude “outsold” the Beatles yet has double digits worth of artists ahead of him money wise. LOL. Those streaming MJ
Bets are just as watered down and fake as his numbers. He will never come close to MJ in reality.
Bruh how you going to compare drake to Mj? Compare this dude to the likes of mickey mouse minaj and lil pump gang. This is some bullshit.
MJ sold records not like today where they count streams that are easily generated using fraud techniques like script, bots and remote centers to make an artist appear bigger than they actually are.
Drakes numbers are fugazi
They’re comparing Michael Jackson with a walking internet meme that’s mediocre at rapping and singing, uses autotune and doesn’t even write his own stuff? That’s insulting.
Drake is trash. No one in their right mind can say that about Michael Jackson
People actually went out and bought Michael Jackson and Beatles records. If the music economy was still based on sales different artists would be popular than the ones currently. Back in the day you would hear Michael jackson everywhere it wasn’t just a chart thing. The charts reflected what was going on in the stores and on the radio. Now it’s different in lots of ways. But I wouldn’t say Drake isn’t popular just not the same way as MJ
The actual quality of music from drake is so poor that his numbers are legit all he has going for him in this argument. Listen to a Mike album and tell me drake is better. U know damn well u lying
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It is not an apples to apples comparison between Drake and Mike Jackson. Drake is benefiting from the internet which leads to multiple outlets for streaming, leading to instant global consumption of his music. What Mike Jackson and the Beatles did is far more impressive because they generated record sales and large-scale fan support without the benefit of powerful tools such as the internet and streaming services. When controlling for use of the internet, Drake’s CLB album wouldn’t even be in discussion to Mike Jackson’s Thriller if they were released around the same time in the 1980s. Drake is a legend for his era. He certainly isn’t talented enough to even be mentioned in the same conversation as Mike Jackson and Beatles.
MJ comes from the era where you actually had to get up and go to the record store to get music.
Every artist of this generation has as many advantages as Drake. So why aren’t they as big as he is today wen they too have access to streaming services? Even MJ in his time was outstanding in spite of what we can call disadvantages today (no streaming, internet etc). Both are great. The difference is MJ was a pedophile and he’s dead.
Just Shut Up and go to hell.
This is some apples and oranges s#!t right here!
Till this date the selling album on cash money records is Juvenile 400 Degrees
Absolutely the best album to grace cash money PERIOD! Carter 3 was the closest one
Slow day in the newsroom for whatever 20-something came up with this one…smh
He isn’t better than M. J, but he is closest one.
Drake raps over beats. MJ sung to classic compositions of music produced by all time greats.