Drake Reportedly Streamed More In 2021 Than All Songs Released Before 1980
Drake generated more streams in 2021 than all songs released prior to 1980 combined, according to Luminate (formerly MRC Data). Billboard got the analytics from Luminate to provide a decade-by-decade breakdown to research how older albums from new artists perform. Releases 18 months or older accounted for nearly 70% of album consumption last year, but 90% of those records were released after 2000. Based on that data, 0.6% of music streamed from 1950 to 1979. Drake alone accounted for 0.8% of total streams. Drake received 8.6 billion streams in 2021. His catalog goes back to 2009 with So Far Gone. While Drake is No. 1 in streams, he is followed closely by NBA YoungBoy.
