Drake and Lil Baby have closed out the year in a tie for the most Billboard Hot 100 placements of 2022, thanks to record breaking releases by both artists.
Chart Data reports that the frequent collaborators each nabbed 40 Hot 100 singles this year, including their joint effort as part of DJ Khaled‘s “STAYING ALIVE,” which peaked at the No. 5 in August. The song has also landed on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs year-end chart.
“STAYING ALIVE” also helped Drake break The Beatles’ 55-year record for the most Top 5 singles on the chart with 30 such placements over the course of his career. “No Secret,” his solo track on Khaled’s GOD DID, also made an appearance on the Hot 100 singles.
The majority of Drake’s other Hot 100 hits were off of his two highly anticipated 2022 releases.
Honestly, Nevermind yielded a total of five entries on the Hot 100 within its first week: the 21 Savage-assisted “Jimmy Cooks” (No. 5), “Sticky” (No. 17), “Massive” (No. 44), “Falling Back” (No. 64) and “Texts Go Green” (No. 3). “Jimmy Cooks” debuted at No. 1 on the chart, earning Drake his 11th chart-topping single.
Additional tracks from the project including “Oceans,” “Calling My Name, “A Keeper,” and “Flights Booked” also popped up on the charts in subsequent weeks.
With the arrival of Her Loss, Drizzy joined forces with 21 Savage to score a few more career highs. Lead single “Rich Flex” bowed at No. 1 during the album’s first week; and with seven other tracks from the project appearing on the chart, Drake occupied eight of the Top 10 positions at once for the second time in as many years.
The 6 God nabbed two Hot 100 singles as a featured artist alongside Future, and two more in the form of Gunna on “P Power,” and Jack Harlow’s “Churchill Downs.”
Lil Baby also made history following the release of his third studio album, It’s Only Me. When the project’s 23-song tracklist entered the Hot 100 charts in its first week, the Atlanta native became the youngest solo artist — and the third overall — to land an entire album onto the chart.
The release also joined “STAYING ALIVE” and 2017’s “Freestyle” to give Baby 25 songs on the coveted list simultaneously.
Additionally, Lil Baby’s 2022 count was boosted by featured appearances alongside Nardo Wick, SleazyWorld Go, Ed Sheeran, Nicki Minaj, Gunna, NAV, Roddy Rich, Chris Brown and an additional appearance of his own on GOD DID.
The success of his 2022 releases and features have garnered Drake four nominations in this year’s HipHopDX Hip Hop Awards, with two tracks nominated in the Best Hip Hop Collaboration of 2022 category, and one nod each for Best Hip Hop Song of 2022 and Best Hip Hop Verse of 2022.
Anyone remember back in the CD days when billboard actually mattered ? When you actually had to go to a store and pay sometimes almost $20 for a physical album ? Id love to see how many units either of these guys would sell under the old rules. I bet the streaming generation wouldnt even buy the bootlegs, let alone the original. I also remember when rappers hardly ever had to perform live because the CDs were selling. Now they have to travel the country performing just to repay their “advance” to the record label. And some get robbed or killed in the process.
Then just refer to the sales of Views. Over a million the first week combining pure sales and streams. Just pure sales was 852,000 in its first 7 days. So it was helped by the streaming services. But who is the say that those people streaming wouldn’t have just made a valid purchase of the physical album or even more important to point out a pirated version. He is a major selling artist and continues his domination.
Not sure why folks think the era of streaming numbers is somehow easier than others. Top of your era is top of your era. Top sales compared to your peers is top of your peers. Drake dominated even before streaming was a thing. And this is during the worst era of all, when music had been available for free online either by piratebay or youtube and no more money was made from sales. Older artists never had to deal with their music just being free to steal anywhere. Artists in past eras with say the Beatles era complained about records, tapes and then, CDs. They would say we just had the radio. Top seller is top seller.