Kendrick Lamar‘s Drake diss “Not Like Us” has earned yet another accolade to go along with its reign at the top of the charts and its spot as America’s top selling song of the year: it is the most-played track of the year worldwide on Apple Music.
The streaming service made the announcement on Tuesday (November 3), as it rolled out its “Top Songs of 2024: Global” playlist. Shaboozey‘s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” was fourth, while Post Malone‘s duet with Morgan Wallen, “I Had Some Help,” was in the number six slot.
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Kendrick actually appeared in the top 10 for a second time, via his beef-starting feature on Future and Metro Boomin‘s “Like That” (no. 8).
Check out Apple Music’s announcement below.
“Not Like Us” actually received even more attention in recent days following Drake’s bombshell legal filings against Universal Music Group.
The chart-topping diss song is at the heart of the dispute, with Drizzy accusing UMG of artifically boosting the track’s popularity through the use of streaming bots and payola.
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He has also claimed that UMG — the parent company of his label Republic and Kendrick’s longtime home of Interscope — defamed him by knowlingly releasing a song that accuses him of being a pedophile.
Since he filed the petitions on November 25, sales of “Not Like Us” have increased by a staggering 440 percent, while streams of the song have jumped by 20 percent, according to Talk of the Charts.
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“Not Like Us” has also zoomed back up the charts of both Apple Music and Spotify, enjoying a 16-place climb on the latter’s Global chart.
Drake was recently warned about his legal battle with UMG inadvertently benefitting his rap rival by music industry and legal experts.
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“No amount of money in the world is worth the reputational harm that Drake is causing to himself by filing these suits,” Audiomack co-founder Brian “Z” Zisook told Rolling Stone.
“If Drake had learned Kendrick was about to release a record making these claims, and he filed a suit to block the song’s release, that would make more sense. But the song is out. It’s been out. The whole world has heard the record.
“Filing these suits serves as a reminder to the world. This is a classic case of the Streisand effect.”
The Streisand effect refers to actress and singer Barbra Streisand’s attempts to supress the publication of a 2003 photo showing her home in Malibu, which inadvertently drew more attention to the previously obscure image.
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Entertainment lawyer Kevin Casini Casini also said to Rolling Stone: “[It] really only serves to bring more attention to the lyrics that Drake finds offensive or objectionable. And I think the streaming numbers for the song will just go up again.”
