Drake

Aubrey Drake Graham, born on October 24th, 1986 is a Canadian rapper and singer. He has been credited with popularizing R&B sensibilities in hip hop artists. Drake gained recognition by starring as Jimmy Brooks in the CTV teen drama series Degrassi: The Next Generation from 2001 to 2008. In 2006, he started pursuing a recording career and released his debut mixtape Room for Improvement. This was followed by Comeback Season (2007) and So Far Gone (2009) before signing with Young Money Entertainment.

Drake’s first three albums, Thank Me Later (2010), Take Care (2011) and Nothing Was the Same (2013) were commercially successful, containing US top-ten singles such as “Find Your Love”, “Take Care”, “Started from the Bottom”, and “Hold On, We’re Going Home”. His fourth album, Views (2016), remained atop the Billboard 200 for 13 non-consecutive weeks, and featured global hit singles such as “Hotline Bling” and “One Dance” (with WizKid and Kyla). Views was credited for popularizing dancehall and Afrobeats in contemporary pop music. Drake’s sixth album, Certified Lover Boy (2021), set the then-record (9) for most US top-ten hits from one album: its lead single “Way 2 Sexy” (with Future and Young Thug) reached number one. In 2022, he released the house-inspired album Honestly, Nevermind and the collaborative album, Her Loss (with 21 Savage) and his eighth album For All the Dogs in 2023: these contained the number-ones “Jimmy Cooks” (with 21 Savage), “Slime You Out” (with SZA), and “First Person Shooter” (with J. Cole).

Drake is also an entrepreneur. He founded the OVO Sound record label with longtime collaborator 40 in 2012. In 2013, he became the “global ambassador” of the Toronto Raptors, joining their executive committee and later obtaining naming rights to their practice facility OVO Athletic Centre. In 2016, he began collaborating with Brent Hocking on the bourbon whiskey Virginia Black. Drake heads the OVO fashion label and the Nocta collaboration with Nike. He founded the production company DreamCrew and the fragrance house Better World. In 2018, he was reportedly responsible for 5 percent (CAD$440 million) of Toronto’s CAD$8.8 billion annual tourism income. In 2022, he obtained partial ownership of Italian soccer club A.C. Milan.

Drake is one of the world’s best-selling music artists, having sold over 170 million records. He is ranked as the highest-certified digital singles artist in the United States by the RIAA. He has won five Grammy Awards, six American Music Awards, 39 Billboard Music Awards, two Brit Awards, and three Juno Awards. He has achieved 13 number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100, a joint-record for the most number-one singles by a male solo artist (tied with Michael Jackson). Drake holds further Hot 100 records, including the most top 10 singles (77), and the most charted songs (329). From 2018 to 2023, Drake held the record for the most simultaneously charted songs in one week (27) and the most Hot 100 debuts in one week (22); he also held the most continuous time on the Hot 100 (431 weeks). Additionally, he has the most number-one singles on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Hot Rap Songs, and Rhythmic Airplay charts.