How The Billboard Music Awards Will Be Honoring Drake
Drake is undoubtedly one of the most popular artists of our generation, and his accomplishments speak for themselves. In 2020, for example, the Toronto native broke a massive Billboard record. Thanks to DJ Khaled's "Popstar" and "Greece," Drake earned his 39th and 40th top 10 singles on the Billboard chart, surpassing Madonna (38) and The Beatles (34), to earn the most entries on the chart, as BBC reported. At the time of writing, the rapper counts even more Top 10 singles (45), with a total of 232 entries on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, per Billboard.
Over the past few years, Drake also earned nine No.1 albums on the Billboard 200 Albums Global chart, with projects such as "Scorpion," "Views," "Take Care," "Thank Me Later," and more. Of course, his achievements are also reflected by the number of awards he's received in the past.
So far, Drake holds a total of 100 awards, including four Grammy Awards and 27 Billboard Music Awards. As reported by Billboard, the rapper holds the title for most awards in BBMA history. Given his track record, it's not hard to see why he'll be receiving a special recognition at the upcoming BBMA's.
Drake is Billboard's artist of the decade
The 2021 Billboard Music Awards — hosted by Nick Jonas — will kick off on Sunday, May 23 and will see performances by The Weeknd and more. And, this year, the BBMAs will also recognize Drake's decade-long impact on music with a special Artist of the Decade Award.
Drake (who's also running in seven BBMA categories, including Top Artist) will be honored for his dominance in the 2010s, which has been calculated based on his presence on Billboard's Hot 100 and 200 Albums charts, as well as social media data and touring revenue.
Apart from his own hard work, Drake has Lil Wayne to thank for his decade-long career. In 2006, the New Orleans rapper hand-picked a young Drake to join his Young Money Entertainment roster, which eventually led to his enormous success. In the past, Drake himself has been open about how Wayne inspired him throughout his career.
"I just wanted to be as important as Lil Wayne 'cause I felt like nobody ever was going to be as big as Lil Wayne," Drake said in a 2019 Rap Radar interview. "I don't know if they'll ever be anybody that will work harder than that guy."
"I always felt like, 'O.K., I'm Wayne's little brother and he's depending on me to carry this name.' I felt that obligation to everybody to really take things to whatever level I could take them," he continued. Keep it up, Drake!