Drake’s album Views was one of the most successful albums of 2016, dominating the charts all over the world upon its release in April and going on to achieve 4x platinum status in the U.S. alone.
By the end of the year, Views had been crowned Best Rap Album at the American Music Awards and had scored Grammy nominations for both Rap Album and Album of the Year.
Fans loved the Toronto rapper’s latest collection but critics were evidently less enthused, based on the year-end lists of the best albums.
Here’s how Views ranked on five rundowns of the best albums of 2016.
No. 42 - Rolling Stone
Views managed to rate 42nd on Rolling Stone’s list of the 50 Best Albums of the year.
“Every release from Drake is a love letter to his hometown of Toronto, but Views rises above as a true ode to the city's diversity and its lasting impact on the artist he is today,” writes Brittany Spanos.
“Borrowing from the Canadian city's deep ties to Afro-Caribbean culture led to his biggest hit to date – the Number One single ‘One Dance’ – and standout moments like the equally breezy single ‘Controlla.’
“Still, even though he won't always admit it, he's still the Drake from five years ago and his signature relationship-centric self-deprecation pulses through quotable tracks like ‘Child's Play’ while his ego and paranoia duel it out like the rap beefs he knows well.”
Rolling Stone's critics preferred another Canadian artist’s album. Leonard Cohen’s You Want It Darker ranked No. 9.
Andy Greene called it “a stark, haunting work by a man that knows that the end is near.
“A powerful final chapter in a career full of surprising left turns and achingly beautiful songs.”
No. 42 — USA Today
Nate Scott of USA Today wrote of Views: “Oh, Aubrey. What could have been.”
On its year-end list of the 50 best albums, the newspaper put Views at No. 42.
“This album has too many phenomenal moments and songs to exclude, but jeez, he sure knows how to get in his own way at times. There’s a 10-song album buried in Views that is probably Drake’s masterpiece; you just have to dig and find it.”
No. 20 - The Guardian
On its list of the 40 best albums of 2016, The Guardian put Views in the middle.
“One counterpoint to Drake’s woes is how fantastic the music he sets them to frequently is,” it declared.
“Views is impressively diverse, taking in everything from the early ‘70s Isley Brothers to house music to dancehall and ‘90s R&B. It’s not perfect, but the album suggests his stardom is unassailable for the foreseeable future.”
The Guardian ranked Cohen’s last album slightly higher, at No. 18 (“There are moments when You Want It Darker gently pushes Cohen’s sound to places it hasn’t gone before”) and decided Love You To Death from Canadian duo Tegan and Sara is worthy of the No. 35 spot.
No. 17 — NME
Of the best 50 albums of 2016, Views ranked a respectable No. 17, according to NME.
“At a whopping 20 tracks long, Drake wasn’t holding back with his fourth full length. Essentially it was yet another album about how goddamn tough it is being Drake, but – in classic Drake style – done via the medium of total ruddy bangers,” wrote Larry Bartleet. “There was ‘One Dance’, the song of the summer, the Rihanna-featuring casual dancehall of ‘Too Good’, outrageously vibey ‘Controlla’, oh and ‘Hotline Bling’ as a sneaky bonus track.
“Sure, there was plenty of moaning in the mix, but Canada’s King of Complaining came up with the party goods.”
Right below Drake on the NME list is Tegan and Sara’s album.
No. 15 — Complex
“Too often, Views is the sound of going through the motions,” opined Frazier Tharpe of Complex, which ranked the album at No. 15 on its rundown of the year’s 50 best.
“As strong as it is, ‘Controlla’ is a borderline sequel mandated by the blockbuster success of Rihanna’s ‘Work.’ Tough talk tracks like ‘Hype’ feel prerequisite, retreading the ground covered by ‘The Language’ and others.
“The passionless delivery of the uninspired closing track—a place in the sequence where Drake usually shines—is so distressing that it made Joe Budden’s criticism of the album understandable (even if it did launch the most unrequited beef rap has ever seen).”
Tharpe added: “Nothing on Views is bad per se—Drake is too talented for that—but it’s rarely enough. Drake's set the bar too high with his past work.”
Complex liked Views more than Starboy, the album from Drake’s fellow Canadian star The Weeknd. It ranked No. 40.