In a report by music chart news platform Chart Data, Canadian superstar, Drake has become the first artist in history to reach 500 million RIAA certification units.
This history making feat is a testament to his status as one of the most commercial artists globally, especially in the United States where he holds multiple charting records.
He recently set a new record for the cumulative weeks on the Billboard 200 after breaking the record previously held by The Beatles.
He also recently scored his 14th NO. 1 song as a soloist, thanks to his recent collaborative album with PartyNextDoor ‘$ome $exy 4 U.’
Drake’s 14th NO. 1 Billboard 200 topping album saw him equal hip hop icon Jay Z and Pop music megastar Taylor Swift as joint second.
It also put Drake just five NO. 1 albums behind the record of 19 chart-topping albums set by The Beatles.
Among other landmark feats recorded by the Canadian superstar in the United States are his 13 NO. 1 hits, which equaled Micheal Jackson’s record as the male soloist with the most NO. 1 song on Billboard Hot 100.
Drake also holds the record for the artist with the most songs on Spotify, with over 1 billion streams. He boasts an impressive 16 songs that have surpassed this milestone.
2025 is expected to be a busy year for Drake who was recently announced as the highest-selling rapper of 2024 by IFPI.
The Canadian history-breaking artist is also the second best-selling artist of 2024 behind Taylor Swift, who topped the list for the third consecutive year and fifth overall time.
The rapper is the highest-ranking rapper, ahead of Eminem who is NO. ,8 and Kendrick Lamar who ranks at NO. 9 and with whom he had a high-profile rap beef in 2024.
This is the 10th year Drake would be in the top 10 of IFPI’s global artist ranking list. It’s also the tenth time he will be the highest-selling rapper globally.
Drake Commits to Diversity Despite DEI Criticism
As higher education institutions have been cutting diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, Drake University has been expanding its efforts.
Drake University President Marty Martin said that Drake is committed to the importance of diversity for its mission.
The private university made history this academic school year with the most diverse undergraduate class in its 143 years.
“If you just think about the educational experience itself, it benefits greatly from having a wide array of persons in a classroom sharing different viewpoints that are based upon the experience that they have coming from the communities that they come from. And for Drake, that means recruiting nationally, and we want to ensure that the students that we’re recruiting feel welcomed here, and many of them come with diverse backgrounds.”
Marty Martin
This comes after the school appointed Dr. Terrance Pendleton as the Associate Provost for Campus Equity and Inclusion last June. He has served as an Associate Professor of Mathematics since 2016.
The Des Moines school also launched a new program called Bulldogs Belong: Resilient and Thriving, which has a goal of enhancing campus inclusivity.
Drake University’s efforts in embracing diversity have led the school to receive the 2024 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from ‘Insight into Diversity’ magazine. Drake was among 113 schools from across the country that were recognized and is the only Iowa school chosen.
“Each institution has to make its own choices about how it’s going to address and approach this issue. I hope that we’ve been really clear that we see diversity as a great strength at Drake University, and we’re going to remain committed to that.”
Marty Martin
Drake’s expansion of DEI programs comes at a time when other institutions have been eliminating their own.
As a result of a law passed last session that banned state universities from maintaining a DEI office, the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, and the University of Northern Iowa have all eliminated their DEI departments.
This session, a bill that would bar public entities and private educational institutions from opening, funding, or maintaining a DEI office was amended on Monday by the Iowa Senate Education Committee to remove “private educational institutions” from the legislation.
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