After Having the Worst Year Ever, Drake Gets the Last Laugh...Sort Of

Photo: Prince Williams/Wireimage (Getty Images)

It’s been a tough year for Drake. Not only did he come out as the loser in one of the biggest hip-hop beefs ever, but he did so in an an embarrassing fashion: His rival, Kendrick Lamar, has been one step ahead of the Canadian pop star since he released his first diss track, “Euphoria.”

Yet, despite a rough go at it all, Drake has remained the undisputed king of the hip-hop charts.

On Saturday (Nov. 30), Chart Data shared a ranking of the “Best selling rappers by total album units this year so far.” Even though he has not released an album this year, the 6-God was still at the top of the list.

It’s a meaningful distinction considering the headlines Drake made last week: He took legal action against Universal Music (UMG) in two separate petitions directly related to “Not Like Us,” Lamar’s super-popular diss track that has become a classic in popular culture and has every man, woman, and child rapping the lyrics word for word.

In one petition, Drake claims that UMG and Spotify conspired to inflate the streams for “Not Like Us.” In the other, he accuses UMG of defamation for allowing the release of the popular diss track, which falsely accuses the Toronto rapper of being a pedophile and sex offender.

These filings have made Drake look like a “hip-hop Karen” in the eyes of many. But the streaming numbers prove that, no matter how an MC may fare in a rap battle or any kind of public feud, fans will always stick behind their favorite artist.

For the last decade, Drake has been omnipresent in the hip-hop world. Nearly every year for the past decade the Toronto rapper has released a studio album with a myriad of tracks. That gives a lot of music for his fans to digest, even when he’s in “hiding” (which he rarely is).