Drake Wins Top Rap Artist Over Kendrick Lamar At 2024 Billboard Music Awards

Drake defeated a bunch of people on the other side of his “20 v. 1” beef, including Kendrick Lamar, to win Top Rap Artist at the Billboard Music Awards.

The awards, for which “honorees are selected by performance on the Billboard Charts,” were given out during a ceremony on Thursday (December 12).

Drizzy won three awards, defeating Kendrick, Future, Metro Boomin and Travis Scott for Top Rap Artist (all but Scott had been involved in the series of back-and-forth records and other disses this past spring and summer); taking home the trophy for Top Rap Album, as For All the Dogs defeated projects from 21 Savage, Future and Metro, Nicki Minaj and Rod Wave; and also defeating Lamar and Scott for Top Rap Male Artist.

Kendrick Lamar did not go home empty handed, though. His Drake diss “Not Like Us” won Top Rap Song honors.

In at least one other respect, Kendrick Lamar was a victor, too: his diss tracks out-earned Drake’s.

On Thursday (December 12), Billboard revealed estimates of how much money the two rap titans’ respective diss songs have generated in the months since their release this past spring.

Using data from Luminate, the analytics company that powers the Billboard charts, the publication estimated that the battle between Kendrick and Drake has generated almost $15.4 million in streaming, digital sales and publishing revenue in the U.S.

Kendrick is the clear winner of the two, statistically speaking, with “Not Like Us,” “Like That,” “Meet the Grahams” and “Euphoria” accounting for just over $13.4 million of that figure (almost 87%).

related news

André 3000 Thinks Kendrick Lamar & Drake Could Help Him Make A Rap Album

December 13, 2024

Not Like Us” is the most profitable of the four, generating roughly $7.6 million, followed by “Like That” — his chart-topping collaboration with Future and Metro Boomin that ignited the war — racking up $4.6 million.

The spooky “Meet the Grahams” has so far earned $795,100, while “Euphoria” has made $441,300. Data for Kendrick’s other diss track “6:16 in LA,” which was not released on streaming, is unavailable.

Meanwhile, Drake’s two commercially available diss songs, “Family Matters” and “Push Ups,” have generated just $981,300 and $969,400 — totaling a little over $1.9 million.

How much money Kendrick and Drake have personally pocketed is unclear as it depends on the terms of their label and publishing deals, which are not known.