Drake has been named the artist with the most Top 5 singles in the U.S., breaking a record held by the Beatles for 55 years.
The Canadian rapper earned his 30th Top 5 hit thanks to DJ Khaled’s “Staying Alive,” on which he is featured with Lil Baby. It debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Drake’s chart achievement comes with caveats – not the least of which is the fact that the Beatles made it to the upper bracket of the chart by selling physical copies of records whereas Drake’s numbers mostly come from streaming and downloads.
“Chart methodology changes over time, thanks to the evolution of how fans consume music,” Billboard explained, “and in turn, so does the measurement of that activity.”
Only 19 of Drake’s Top 5 tracks were released as his own (he is a featured artist on the others) and of those, only nine were solo.
Further, it took Drake almost 14 years to rack up 30 Top 5 singles, while the Beatles did it five years.
On Meek Mill’s 2018 track “Goin’ Bad,” Drake boasted that he’s “got more slaps than the Beatles” and, in 2019, he inked the achievement on his skin. The rap star has a tattoo on his left forearm that depicts him holding up his hand to the Fab Four, who appear in formation à la the iconic Abbey Road cover photo.
At the time, Rolling Stone opined that the tattoo is “either hilarious or tasteless, bold or unbecoming” and Ontario-based band Transistor tweeted that Drake’s new ink is “narcissistic” and added: “If people remember a Drake song in 50 years we will gladly eat our words.”