genre hiphop

14 Feb 2025

Drake & PartyNextDoor’s ‘$ome $exy $ongs 4 U’: All 21 Tracks Ranked

The OVO teammates partner for their first-ever full collaboration album.

PartyNextDoor and Drake

PartyNextDoor and Drake attend Party Next Door Live at S.O.B.’s on Oct. 23, 2014, in New York City.

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On Friday (Feb. 14), Drake and PARTYNEXTDOOR entered Valentine’s Day with stealthy intentions as they delivered their long-awaited collaborative album $ome $exy $ongs 4 U.

For 21 songs, the OVO tandem scripts entrancing songs about love, heartbreak and lust. Whether they tag-team on records (“SOMEBODY LIKE YOU”) or welcome newcomers like Pim to grab the wheel (“PIMMIE’s DILEMMA”), it’s clear that the Toronto showstoppers are looking to play spoilers for thriving relationships in 2025 during Valentine’s Day weekend.

As for Drake, all eyes are on him after his lyrical adversary, Kendrick Lamar, steamrolled his way to five Grammy wins for his scathing diss track “Not Like Us” and took yet another victory lap during his record-breaking Super Bowl Halftime Show performance. Though $exy $ongs is a love-laden effort, Drake does have choice words not only for his PG Lang foe but also for his long-time critic, Joe Budden. Despite his menacing barbs, Drake’s attention remains primarily on the ladies throughout the 74-minute effort.

For PND, who’s coming off arguably his best album last year with PND4, he continues his hot streak as an R&B stalwart. He doesn’t only complement Drake as a formidable co-pilot, but when given the keys, is a cerebral lead artist, as proven on “DEEPER.” Time will tell if Drizzy can land his 14th No. 1 album with his newest effort.

Join Billboard as we recap the best (and less-best) songs on Drake and PND’s $OME $EXY $ONGS 4 U, and see if the Toronto Boys live up to the occasion on this R&B-centric album.

14 Feb 2025

Here Are the Artists With the Most Streaming Songs No. 1s in the 21st Century

After Billboard introduced streaming data into the Billboard Hot 100 in the 2000s, and the first streaming-based ranking, On-Demand Streaming Songs, started in 2012, the Jan. 26, 2013, issue announced the arrival of Streaming Songs, which has become Billboard’s all-encompassing streaming ranking of record since.

Incorporating on-demand and programmed streaming totals (as compiled by data tracker Luminate), Streaming Songs began affording a look into the behaviors of millions of music fans, from diehards to casual listeners, on platforms that hadn’t existed prior to the 21st century. Especially key, it showed, for the first time, repeat curated listening in a way that tracking plays of records, tapes, CDs and MP3s hadn’t previously allowed.

Streaming Songs has been ever-changing, with streaming services added to the chart’s data feed. Early on, pop and hip-hop were streaming frontrunners. Since the turn of the 2020s, genres including country and Latin, in particular, have made significant inroads. Reflecting streaming’s growth overall, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ “Thrift Shop,” featuring Wanz, topped the inaugural Streaming Songs chart with 1.5 million U.S. streams. On the latest list (dated Feb. 15), Morgan Wallen’s “I’m the Problem” rules with 29.2 million official clicks.

As Billboard celebrates the top-performing artists, albums and songs of the first 25 years of the century since 2000, browse below, the acts with the most No. 1s on the Streaming Songs chart in that span.

Plus, check out Top Artists of the 21st Century, Top Billboard 200 Albums of the 21st Century and Billboard’s Top Hot 100 Songs of the 21st Century charts, as well as all coverage of Billboard’s 21st Century charts here.

Billboard’s Top Artists, Top Billboard 200 Albums and Top Hot 100 Songs of the 21st Century recaps reflect performance on weekly charts dated Jan. 1, 2000, through Dec. 28, 2024. The Top Artists category ranks the best-performing acts in that span based on activity on the Billboard 200 and Billboard Hot 100. (Titles released prior to mid-1999 are excluded, although such entries that appeared on the Billboard 200 or Hot 100 in that span contribute to the calculation of the Top Artists chart.)

14 Feb 2025

Amid Kendrick Lamar Feud, Drake’s Streams Are Down From 2024

The rap feud between Kendrick Lamar and Drake has broken out beyond the hip-hop world so that now even the mainstream media is all over it and keeping score, thanks to Lamar winning record and song of the year at the Grammys for his Drake diss track “Not Like Us” and his performance a week later at the Super Bowl Halftime Show.

While it’s unclear how this is all going to play out, music industry label executives know that rap feuds, in general, are good for business — as long as they don’t go too far.

As it is, Lamar’s high-profile performance is landing him the most ink, which in turn is driving plenty of business his way. It’s only five weeks into the year as tracked by Luminate, and already his recorded music catalog is closing in on 1 billion on-demand streams in the U.S., which it will probably reach next week; while his global streams are heading toward 2 billion. As of the week ending Feb. 6, those counts stand at 862.8 million (U.S.) and 1.69 billion (globally), according to Luminate. Overall, Lamar’s catalog has accumulated nearly 664,000 album consumption units in the U.S. in 2025 so far.

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That’s nearly three times larger than during the same period in 2024 when Lamar posted 233,000 album consumption units and almost 301 million on-demand streams in the U.S. and global streams of 650 million. Of course, besides his high-profile TV appearances this year, Lamar’s streaming and sales activity is still enjoying an added boost from riding in the afterglow of his recently released GNX album on Nov. 22.

But is all this attention also helping Drake? It’s unclear. Drake is slightly trailing Lamar in terms of U.S. album consumption units and streaming in 2025 so far. Album consumption units came in at 620,000 units, or 7.1% short of the Compton rapper; while his total of nearly 834 million on-demand streams is 3.5% below Lamar’s U.S. total and his global total of 1.529 billion is 10.3% short of his musical rival’s.

Besides that, Drake’s 2025 performance is also down from how his catalog performed in the first five weeks of 2024, when he accumulated 930,000 album consumption units; and, within that, 1.281 billion streams in the U.S. Those 2024 numbers are 50% and 53.6% greater, respectively, than his U.S. activity in 2025 during the same period; while his 2024 global on-demand stream total was 2.246 billion, or nearly 47% greater than this year.

Drake, of course, does not have the added momentum of having released a new album at the end of 2024. (He is releasing his PartyNextDoor collaborative EP, Some Sexy Songs 4 U, this Friday.) Not only that, his current year’s numbers are competing against his prior year’s numbers which did have that benefit thanks to the afterglow of his eighth studio album, For All the Dogs, which was released on Oct. 6, 2023.

Still, the above numbers do not reflect the impact that Lamar’s Super Bowl performance is having on the activity of his and Drake’s catalogs. Those numbers, for the week ending Feb. 13, won’t be available from Luminate until Monday (Feb. 17).

This is all short-term, of course. Looking at the two artists’ career numbers, Drake swamps Lamar, even though the “Just Like Us rapper” has pretty impressive counts in his own right. Over the past 10 years, Drake has gone toe-to-toe with only Taylor Swift in claiming the title of the biggest artist in the U.S., if not the world, at least as far as recorded music activity goes.

Drake and Lamar’s first commercial releases came out within about a year of each other. Drake’s debut album, Thank Me Later, hit the streets in June 2010, while Lamar’s Section 8.0 album came out in July 2011. Since then, Drake has issued eight albums and Lamar six, and each has also released mixtapes, EPs, collaborations and/or compilations and soundtracks.

By the end of 2024, Drake’s catalog has accumulated nearly 80.7 million album consumption units in the U.S., versus Lamar’s 29.1 million album consumption units, according to Luminate. In fact, the combined activity of just three of Drake’s studio albums alone is higher than Lamar’s total, as each of those albums — Take Care, Scorpion and Views — have garnered slightly over 10 million album consumption units a piece. Meanwhile, Lamar’s best album showings come from his major-label debut good kid, m.A.A.d city, with 9.3 million album consumption units, and DAMN, at nearly 9 million units.

(These career numbers exclude collaborations where most of the collaborators are each considered a primary artist but do include songs where artists are “featured” on a Drake or Lamar song because Luminate credits those songs’ activity to just the primary artist. Album consumption units count each album sale as one album consumption unit; while track equivalent albums, whereby 10 tracks sold equal one album consumption unit; and stream equivalent albums, whereby 1,250 paid subscriber streams equal one album consumption unit, or 3,750 ad-supported streams equal one album consumption unit. Also, Luminate only tracks album consumption units in North America; globally, it only tracks streams and downloads, not album consumption units.)

Within the album consumption unit numbers, Drake’s streaming total in the U.S. is 84 billion and 127 billion globally, as of the Luminate year ended Jan. 2, 2025. Meanwhile, Lamar’s U.S. career streaming total is nearly 29 billion and more than 47 billion globally.

Those numbers are extremely impressive given that 2015 was the first year in which streaming’s impact was widely felt. While huge rock stars, not counting pop artists, are lucky to break the 1 billion on-demand streams milestone in the U.S. each year — and none of them yet appear to have broken the 2 billion mark in the U.S. in a single year — these days, R&B and hip-hop artists regularly hit the multi-billion on-demand stream mark each year — usually led by Drake. 

Over the past five years — from 2020 to 2024 — Drake’s U.S. streams have totaled 46 billion, for an annual average of 9.2 billion streams, while globally he’s averaged 15.9 billion streams per year. In contrast, Lamar’s U.S. stream count during that same period averages 3.29 billion, while his annual global count averages nearly 6.4 billion streams. Any way you cut it — by album consumption units or by stream count — Drake’s activity over the course of his career, or even just within the 2020 to 2024 period, is more than twice that of Lamar’s. 

So even though Lamar is the top dog this year when measured against Drake’s activity, it remains to be seen if this rap feud changes the dynamics of whose swagger — Drake’s, the reigning champ, or Lamar’s — can be backed up long-term. Only time will tell.

13 Feb 2025

Offset Rings in Valentine’s Day With ‘Ten’ Single: Stream It Now

Offset is spending his Valentine’s Day loving his deep pockets on his new single “Ten,” which he dropped on Friday (Feb. 14) via Motown Records.

“I don’t need you, I got money/ I don’t miss you, I got money/ Love you, but not like money,” he raps with a mischievous, sing-song cadence.

“Ten” arrives two months after his last solo single “Swing My Way,” and model Anok Yai starred in the accompanying music video that was directed by Kid Art. Last year, Set collaborated with the late Juice WRLD (“Celebrate”) from his third posthumous, fifth and final studio album The Party Never Ends, Gunna (“Style Rare” and “Prada Dem”), Blxst (“Risk Taker”) and Killer Mike (“EXIT 9,” also with Blxst). He released his sophomore studio album Set It Off in October 2023, and the set peaked at No. 2 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and No. 5 on the Billboard 200.

The single comes just after Cardi B filed for divorce from the Migos rapper in August, one month before they welcomed their third baby. “Slowly but surely, everybody gotta go their separate ways,” she said in October. “My kids gotta get used to that, ‘No, you’re not going to come home every single day and your dad is gonna be here.’ Slowly, but surely.”

Last month, Cardi appeared to accuse Offset and his mother, Latabia Woodward, of robbing her during a rant on X Spaces. “I ain’t listen after you and your momma robbed me,” she claimed. “Yeah, you and your mom robbed me cold, wiped my nose. Told you stop f—ing playing with me.”

Stream “Ten” below.

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13 Feb 2025

Dexta Daps Celebrates Valentine’s Day With New ‘Lockdown’ Single: Stream It Now

After winning performer of the year (dancehall) at last year’s Caribbean Music Awards, Jamaican reggae sensation Dexta Daps is set on securing the next Valentine’s Day anthem with his new “Lockdown” single.

Over waltz-evoking guitars, Dexta forgoes the fete to spend some intimate one-on-one time with his special lady singing, “I’ve been staying home lately because outside has been too much for me/ Spending quality time with my baby/ I could be somewhere out there in the club, but I’m here with you making love/ There is beauty inside when two lovers lockdown.” Though it’s nearly impossible for the phrase “lockdown” not to invoke memories of the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dexta’s smoldering vocal delivery — which blends the intricate rhyme schemes of dancehall with sultry R&B riffs and instrumentation — prevents that era from completely cannibalizing the song.

“Lockdown” — which hit DSPs on Friday (Feb. 14) — is Dexta’s second release of the year. Last month (Jan. 10), he released “X-Gal,” a Dretegs-produced track whose official video has amassed over two million views in just one month. Since the release of “X-Gal,” Dexta has dedicated his official Instagram feed to teasing behind-the-scenes footage of the “Lockdown” music video. “[One] ting, if you work with Dexta Daps, you gonna laugh,” he quipped in one caption. “Well, except the [camera] man!”

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Known for hits such as “Shabba Madda Pot” and “Breaking News,” Dexa Daps earned his first entry on Top Reggae Albums with 2020’s Vent (No. 10). Three years later, he notched his first entry on the U.S. Afrobeats Song Chart with “Bop” (No. 22), a Davido collaboration from the Nigerian star’s 2023 Timeless LP.

Listen to “Lockdown” below:

13 Feb 2025

Drake & PartyNextDoor Return With ‘$ome $exy $ongs 4 U’ Album: Stream It Now

The long-awaited joint album from Drake and PartyNextDoor is finally here. The years-in-the-making project, $ome $exy $ongs 4 U hit streaming services on Friday (Feb. 14) to spice up Valentine’s Day for the lovers and hopeless romantics out there.

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$ome $exy $ongs 4 U is loaded with 21 tracks and 74 minutes of runtime. The effort is Drake’s first full-length project since 2023’s For All The Dogs (outside of the 100 Gigs EP drop) and PartyNextDoor’s P4, which dropped in 2024.

Drake brought out PND earlier this week during a concert in Melbourne as his OVO signee surprised the Australian crowd on his Anita Max Wynn Tour.

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“I got an album coming out on Feb. 14 with my brother PartyNextDoor. It’s called $ome $exy $ongs 4 U, but it’s some turned-up songs for you on there, too, and there’s some personal feelings on there for you,” Drake told the crowd during a show. “Hopefully, whoever you’re with on Valentine’s Day, hopefully y’all can share that experience together.”

The 6 God will have plenty of new music to perform when he hits the stage this weekend in Sydney where he’ll hit the stage for a handful of shows before heading to Brisbane.

Drake also revealed the cover art for $$$4U earlier this week, which finds Drizzy and PND rocking fur coats in front of the Marilyn Monroe Towers in Canada.

The duo has shown off their potent chemistry in the past on tracks such as “Come and See Me,” “Recognize,” “Members Only,” “Loyal,” “Preach, “Since Way Back” and more.

Stream $$$4U below.

13 Feb 2025

Here’s What Young Thug Attorney Brian Steel Has to Say About Drake & PartyNextDoor Naming a Song After Him

Drake and PartyNextDoor are dropping their joint album $ome $exy $ongs 4 U on Thursday night, and one song title on the recently revealed track list stuck out: The duo named the project’s ninth track “Brian Steel” after the attorney who represented Young Thug during his much-publicized RICO trial.

New York Times reporter Joe Coscarelli reached out and posted a screenshot of Steel’s response on his X account, and while the lawyer said he was “unaware” of the song, he had nothing but nice things to say about Drake.

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“I have had the honor and pleasure of meeting with Mr. Graham,” Steel wrote. “He is so kind, considerate, generous, inspirational, intelligent—a true leader and great model for our community.”

Brian Steel’s name was originally misspelled when the track list first surfaced, but it looks like that mistake was fixed, as per the updated list Drake posted on his Instagram.

Before Young Thug was released from Fulton County Jail in the fall, he tried to settle things between Drake, Metro Boomin and Future after the latter duo helped set off the Kendrick Lamar and Drake battle that popped off last year. “@Drake @1future @MetroBoomin we all bruddas. Music aint the same without us collabin,” Thugger posted on X in October.

According to Akademiks, Drake apparently went to see Thug after his release and hit him with a bag of money. “When Thug gets let out of jail, the talk is this: They say two hours afterward, Drake flew to Thug and allegedly gave him a [million dollars],” the streamer said.

Billboard reached out to Brian Steel’s law office for additional comment.

13 Feb 2025

Doechii’s ‘Denial Is a River’ Hits Top 3 of TikTok Billboard Top 50 | Billboard News

The TikTok Billboard Top 50 has a new No. 1, but who could it be between Doechii, Lady Gaga and Fetty Wap? Keep watching to find out!

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Grammy winners see a boost this week, while a decade-old hit reigns supreme. Fetty Wap’s “Again” rides from eight to No. 1 on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 for the chart posting Feb. 13. It’s all thanks to a trend where users act like they’re listening to the hit on a speaker from 10 years ago when the song was released. Doechii’s “Denial Is a River” lands at No. 3 after performing the hit at this year’s Grammys and taking home best rap album. Also making a splash that evening was Lady Gaga. After premiering her new song “Abracadabra” during a commercial break, the song became a hit on TikTok, debuting at No. 9.

Every Thursday, Billboard will bring you the verified list of the hottest songs on TikTok by monitoring music discovery and engagement on the platform in the United States. To find the TikTok Billboard Top 50 each week, users can simply go to any sound detail page and tap the top right button to access the charts page.

13 Feb 2025

Cardi B Jokingly Lays Out Strict Rules for Fans Remaining Single While She’s Single

Cardi B entered the year single for the first time in a long time and she’s embracing her new sense of freedom. Not only for herself, but the Grammy-winning rapper wants the Bardi Gang back outside and maintaining their single status with her.

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The 32-year-old shared a set of “strict rules” in her BG Secret Society channel on Instagram earlier this week. “When I date you date, when I’m single you single, when I’m not getting d–k yall don’t get d–k, p—y or a–hole,” the rapper wrote. “We gotta go through everything together..THANK YOU …18+.”

Cardi B filed for divorce for a second time from Offset last summer and gave birth to their third child together later in the year. It doesn’t appear like any chance of reconciliation is on the table at this time. According to Cardi’s rep, the divorce filing was “not based on any one particular incident, it has been a long time coming and is amicable.”

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The Bronx bombshell was spotted enjoying herself at Super Bowl LIX weekend in New Orleans as she hosted a Big Game afterparty attended by superstars Ice Spice, Quavo, Tyla and more.

On the music side, fans are impatiently awaiting the arrival of Cardi’s much-delayed sophomore album, which she’s planning to drop in 2025. However, she did team up with frequent collaborator Pardison Fontaine earlier this month for their ratchet “Toot It Up” track. The new song was the pair’s first collaboration since the 2018 hit “Backin’ It Up,” which reached No. 40 on the Billboard Hot 100.

13 Feb 2025

The Alchemist Confirms New Mobb Deep Album, Says Nas Is Involved

There’s a new Mobb Deep album in the works.

The Alchemist made an appearance on The Breakfast Club on Wednesday (Feb. 12) to promote his new album, Life Is Beautiful, with Larry June and 2 Chainz, where he broke the news after praising the late Prodigy‘s work ethic and writing skills.

“They did so much work, it was insane,” he said of the legendary group’s unreleased tracks. “You could just peel back layers in Prodigy’s rhymes. He was ahead of his time. Their discography is unmatched. P’s legend lives. He did more than the average person while he was here, and he even left behind a lot of stuff, so we’re lucky enough to be working on a new Mobb Deep project.”

He then added that he and Havoc have been manning production duties while also revealing that Nas is helping out on the project as well. “It’s me and Hav doing the beats. Nas is involved. It feels great just to hear his voice again. We missed it. It’s a void not hearing his voice anymore.”

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Elsewhere in the interview, the “Meet the Grahams” producer talked about finding himself in the middle of the Kendrick and Drake battle. “It happens a lot to me,” he admitted in regards to rappers using his beats for diss records. “I try to tell rappers that I’m Switzerland — leave me out it — but they end up making me the battleground. I’m indifferent to it. I don’t have a dog [in the fight], I make beats.”

2 Chainz also found himself involved when Kendrick name-dropped him in the third verse of “Not Like Us” when he rapped, “Chainz say you good, but he lied.” However, the Atlanta rapper chalked it up to creative wordplay.

You can watch the full conversation below.