Drake’s ‘Certified Lover Boy’ Album Set a New Record For the Billboard Charts

Drake‘s transformation over the past two decades has been exciting for fans of his to watch. From being an actor on the popular Canadian TV series Degrassi: The Next Generation to a bestselling rapper with a worldwide reputation, Drake has solidified his spot as a rap heavy hitter. His 2021 album Certified Lover Boy extended the rapper’s reign.

Drake’s album ‘Certified Lover Boy’ was highly anticipated

Drake released his debut album Thank Me Later in 2010, with his follow-up Take Care being released the following year. His acclaimed album Nothing Was the Same was released in 2013, and his ode to his home city, Views, was released in 2016.

Since Views, Drake has released one-off projects and mixtapes as well as his Scorpion album in 2018. Since then, fans have been eager for a new Drake album.

He first teased the release of his sixth album Certified Lover Boy in late 2020, declaring that it would be released in January 2021. Like his colleague Kanye West, Drake took his time in perfecting the album before releasing it at the end of the summer.

‘Certified Lover Boy’ has 9 songs in the Billboard Hot 100 chart top 10

Certified Lover Boy is a mammoth album, clocking in at nearly an hour and a half in length with over 20 tracks. It features collaborations with the likes of Jay-Z, Future, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, and more. While Drake hyped up the album’s release with singles such as “Laugh Now Cry Later” and “What’s Next,” the album features entirely new material from what he had released before.

While the album has drawn mixed reactions from critics, it has already proven that Drake has the power to command massive audiences around the world, regardless of the music he releases. The album broke Apple Music and Spotify records for the most streams in a single day, with over 1 billion recorded from around the globe.

Drake also achieved something no other artist in history has been able to do. For the first time ever, Drake occupied nine out of the top 10 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. According to Billboard itself, Certified Lover Boy is “the first album ever to generate as many as nine top 10 Hot 100 hits.” The only other people to come closer were The Beatles for one week in 1964, when they occupied the top five spots on the chart.

Drake holds a highly-coveted Billboard chart record

Drake has been one of the most bankable stars on the Billboard Hot 100 over the past decade. As a result, he’s notched some accomplishments on the respected chart that longtime artists haven’t been able to match.

For example, Drake holds the title for the most top 10 singles after the release of Certified Lover Boy with 54, easily shooting past Madonna and The Beatles’ records. He also holds the record for the most songs to debut in the top 10 of the Hot 100, with 39 total (his closest competition is Taylor Swift with 19), and has had the most top 40 singles in total, with 140.

Perhaps Drake’s biggest Hot 100 chart accomplishment, however, is the total number of entries he’s had on the chart since the beginning of his career. In total, Drake has had 258 of his songs make it to the Hot 100 chart. This makes him the Hot 100’s most prolific artist in history, with his only competition being the Glee Cast, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, and Taylor Swift, with significantly less than Drake.