Kendrick Lamar didn’t just out-manoeuvre Drake in their high-profile feud, but out-earned him too.
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.
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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%).
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“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.
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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.
Billboard has reported the revenue Kendrick Lamar and Drake did throughout their beef
Between both of them: $15.3 million in total
◽️Not Like Us: $7.6 Million
◽️Like That: $4.6 Million
◽️Family Matters: $981,300
◽️Push Up: $969,400
◽️Meet The Grahams: $795,100
◽️Euphoria:… pic.twitter.com/XPpgCrFumJ— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod 🇸🇴 (@big_business_) December 12, 2024
When looking at K. Dot and Drizzy’s earnings from the feud as a whole, it’s likely that these figures are much higher.
As Audiomack co-founder Brian Zizook pointed out on X, “the beef generated multiples of this amount, as both artists enjoyed a significant increase in back catalog consumption.”
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Kendrick Lamar’s discography was especially boosted by the beef, with past albums such as good kid, m.A.A.d city, To Pimp a Butterfly and DAMN. making huge climbs on the Billboard 200 chart in May.
Drake, on the other hand, saw his usually dominant catalog suffer a rare slump as every one of his albums that where charting at the time fell several positions.
Although the beef has cooled off in recent months, the battle could be reignited in court as Drizzy recently filed two “pre-action” petitions against Universal Music Group accusing them of illegally giving Kendrick an advantage.
The 6 God claims that the music giant — the parent company of both his label Republic and Kendrick’s longtime home of Interscope — used streaming bots and payola to artificially inflate the popularity of “Not Like Us.”
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He has also accused UMG of defamation for knowingly releasing a song that labels him a sex offender.
Drake has been given two separate court hearings on December 20 and January 16 to determine whether he can depose UMG, along with other companies named in the filings, for potential future lawsuits.
