Kendrick Lamar has once again surpassed Drake by achieving a new streaming milestone among rappers.
After his Super Bowl halftime show performance this past weekend, Kendrick now has 88.8 million monthly listeners on Spotify, the world’s leading streaming platform.
This is the highest number of monthly listeners ever reached by a Hip Hop artist on the service.
The Compton superstar is currently far ahead of his rival Drake, who has 75.3 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
However, Kendrick still has a long way to go to secure the top spot among all artists, with Bruno Mars holding the lead with an impressive 151 million monthly listeners on the platform.
Trailing in second place is The Weeknd with 124.5 million.
Kendrick Lamar officially breaks the all-time record for most monthly listeners for a rapper in Spotify history (88.8 million). pic.twitter.com/sMJtOR8v02
— chart data (@chartdata) February 11, 2025
Kendrick Lamar now holds the all-time record for most monthly listeners for a hip-hop artist in Spotify history.
He surpasses Drake. pic.twitter.com/7lSN1Sxyk8
— chart data (@chartdata) February 11, 2025
Kendrick Lamar has experienced a significant boost in streams following his Super Bowl performance, as well as his recent success at the Grammys.
As previously mentioned, K. Dot’s track “Not Like Us,” a diss aimed at Drake, saw a 430 percent increase on Spotify in the hours after the show, while “HUMBLE,” “All the Stars,” “Man at the Garden,” and “DNA” all experienced jumps of over 200 percent.
On Apple Music (which sponsored the halftime show), Kendrick claimed the top five spots the morning after his performance, and his album GNX returned to No. 1 on the platform.
Kendrick is also predicted to regain the top position on the Billboard 200, with GNX projected to add another 230,000 equivalent album units this week.
The Pulitzer Prize winner has also outpaced Drake when it comes to the financial success of their rap battle.
In December, Billboard estimated that the diss tracks from both rappers generated nearly $15.4 million in streaming, digital sales, and publishing revenue in the U.S.
Kendrick clearly came out on top, with his tracks “Not Like Us,” “Like That,” “Meet the Grahams,” and “Euphoria” earning over $13.4 million of that total (almost 87 percent).
“Not Like Us” was the highest-earning of the four, generating approximately $7.6 million, followed by “Like That,” his chart-topping collaboration with Future and Metro Boomin, which made $4.6 million.
The eerie track “Meet the Grahams” earned $795,100 at that time, while “Euphoria” made $441,300. Data for Kendrick’s other diss track “6:16 in LA,” which wasn’t released on streaming platforms, was unavailable.
