Drake has claimed that Billboard changed their charting rules after he released his behemoth double album Scorpion in 2018, saying the company did so to give other artists a helping hand.
Drizzy phoned into a recent episode of Akademiks’Â Off The Record podcast featuring his Her Loss collaborator 21 Savage, where he accused Billboard of rigging the charts in an attempt to curb his dominance.
“I mean, at the end of the day, ever since we were dunning off the charts from Scorpion, they fixed the charts anyway,” Drizzy said. “So it is what it is. You know, they had to give other people a fair shot.”
He then appeared to turn his attention to Her Loss, saying: “We’ll do what we do. It’s more about the feeling, the momentum; it’s not about how long it stays.”
While it’s unclear which change Drake was specifically referring to, Billboard did change its rules around streaming during Scorpion’s reign in 2018. When DSPs were first factored into Billboard rankings, the ratio had been 1,500 streams equals a single album sale — a number that had been derived from average revenues labels received from clicks on streaming platforms.
The week Scorpion was released, Billboard had implemented two different ratios to reflect “the disparity in value between a song streamed by a paying subscriber” via Apple Music and Spotify, versus a stream that came from a “free user.” These ratios were as follows: 1,250 paid streams equals one album unit, while 3,750 free streams equal one album unit.
These rules were followed by another update regardingmerch bundles in 2020, in which Billboard completely eliminated the sale of any album if it came attached with merch or concert tickets. They said this change was because bundling didn’t accurately reflect the interest of consumers.
Billboard’s 2018 rule change didn’t take the sting out of Scorpion’s commercial performance, though, as the album still broke streaming records around the world. It also debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 723,000 album-equivalent units in its first week.
While the projected numbers for Drake’s and 21 Savage’s Her Loss aren’t as monumental as Scorpion‘s, the album is still expected to snag the top spot on the Billboard 200 with around 400,000 first-week units, according to HITS Daily Double.
Her Loss‘s No. 1 debut may come at a hefty price, though, as it was reported on Tuesday (November 8) that Drake and 21 Savage are being sued by Vogue for $4 million over the fake magazine the duo created to promote the joint project.
Drizzy talkin str8t Factz. Dat da same thang dey done did to Tattle Tales. A certified numba 1 on da chartz n in da streetz. SMH
Are you okay? You sound half retarded lol
Can cosign. Drake sold at least 600k of honestly nevermind 1st week yet billboard discounts them at the end. Same thing with her loss. It sold at least 600k yet billboard discounts them. Taylor swift did not sell anywhere near 1.5 million (it sold maybe 400k) but billboard ended up putting the extra sales that should have gone to drake. This isnt limited to drake though. Dababy also sold at least 200k with his latest album yet billboard chooses to discriminate anyway.
Can cosign. Drake sold at least 600k of honestly nevermind 1st week yet billboard discounts them at the end. Same thing with her loss. It sold at least 600k yet billboard discounts them. Taylor swift did not sell anywhere near 1.5 million (it sold maybe 400k) but billboard ended up putting the extra sales that should have gone to drake. This isnt limited to drake though. Dababy also sold at least 200k with his latest album yet billboard chooses to discriminate anywa
Right. It’s all about money and politics. The powers that be want someone else the get tops sales (make more money) so they fix the charts. For example, I watched the charts for months (Spotify, Apple Music, Itunes…) and saw that Wait for You and Jimmy Cooks dominated the top two positions for 4 months yet As it Was was number one on Billboard Not right. same with Rich Flex — it dominated the streaming charts and was number one globally yet did not debut at number one. They did not was Drake to debut another number one song because that would make him the winner (and people would buy even more of his music). They want someone else to get the money now.
It is the same process for the Grammys. When someone wins a Grammy — the sell more records and their new music is even more anticipated. So certain artist are not getting Grammy wins.
Can cosign. Drake sold at least 600k of honestly nevermind 1st week yet billboard discounts them at the end. Same thing with her loss. It sold at least 600k yet billboard discounts them. Taylor swift did not sell anywhere near 1.5 million (it sold maybe 400k) but billboard ended up putting the extra sales that should have gone to drake.
Lol Drake sales are declining and you’re butthurt. Not even an album with another big rapper can outsell Taylor Swift’s solo album hahaha Looks like all his fangirls are getting older and moving on. Still not even close to Eminem’s overall sales. Wooooo
she’s still outselling him with these new rules so i don’t see the argument here
Drake about to hit no.1 again this weekend. Also, a lot of Taylor swiftest sold albums were actually meant for drake’s albums yet counted as Taylor’s due to chart rules against black rappers
Also, eminem sold cds back when streaming wasn’t around. Drake bodies eminem in streaming
No matter what you say she’s still outselling him. Sorry bro
Eminem still wins overall and Drake will never catch up. Go cry more somewhere else.
“Drake bodies eminem in streaming” Drake is 36… Eminem is 50 and still doing very well in the streaming era. Let’s see how Drake is doing in 14 years.
Cry baby drizzy
Cry baby and a liar cuz he been missing with the sales Future and kdot and Kanye and cole all outsold honestly never mind
Cry baby drizzy
Your boy pusha flopping big
your boy admitted to losing the beef with pusha t who is also garbage. now you’re salty because drake isn’t even selling that much anymore so you have nothing else left to say. his peak is clearly in the past. sorry bro. he ADMITTED to losing to pusha t in an interview lol go hang out with your friends and have fun like normal 14 year old girls do
That was Pusha admitting to defeat. Not drake
Lol nope.. wrong and you know you are. Nothing left to say. Love to see it. Thanks for proving my point
this comment proves he’s trolling. clearly saying things that aren’t true. i say stop feeding the troll
Stop trolling. K thx.
Or maybe it was just trash like every album he did after???
Seriously though when is Drake gonna come out of the closet? I mean he’s not fooling anybody. I figured he was going to after Lil Nas X got big but he’s still hiding it lol Drake cmon now… if anything it might help your career get back to where it was
You want him to turn 🌈 so you can fantasized him that way. I mean he is hot, he definitely gotten way cuter with his cheeks grown in compared to when he first hit the music scene. I’d like to taste his drop so that I can taste greatness yummmm drizzy on my tongue 😛😜
Pretty sure he could fantasize him whether he came out or not plus your comment wasn’t funny and you had to write all of that yourself. What a sad life.
I have to admit I was hoping to see OVO on here crying after seeing the sales projections on another site… and here he is ahahah. Nobody didn’t think it wasn’t gonna be number one because there’s no competition in the same week. However, them sales are looking reeeal low for ya boy.
This is embarrasing!!! You and all artists of this decade have been helped by this absurd system that makes you have all songs from a record on the charts, but not because people request them or buy them. You have overpassed others who, back in the day, collected many real hits. Some singers have 10 songs on the charts , but many people remember and recognize them. Drake has more than one hundred, but tjey ate not hits. Even sine main singles are rarely remembered. The system must change to be fair.
This is embarrasing!!! You and all artists of this decade have been helped by this absurd system that makes you have all songs from a record on the charts, but not because people request them or buy them. You have overpassed others who, back in the day, collected many real hits. Some singers have 10 songs on the charts , but many people remember and recognize them. Drake has more than one hundred, but tjey ate not hits. Even sine main singles are rarely remembered. The system must change to be fair.