The 2021 Billboard Music Awards take place later this month and Drake will be among the honorees, receiving an honor few others can boast: an Artist of the Decade Award. The award is bestowed on the best-performing artists based on activity on Billboard‘s biggest charts: the 200 albums chart and Hot 100 songs chart, from December of 2009 to September of 2019.
Drake’s more than qualified by those criteria. Throughout the 2010s, he had the most No. 1s on the Billboard 200 (nine), the most top-ten songs on the Hot 100 (33), six No. 1s on the Hot 100, and the most No. 1s on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart with 18. He’s also the only solo male artist to spend more than 50 cumulative weeks at No. 1 — a distinction that’s certain to change in the future thanks to long chart-topping runs by artists like Roddy Ricch and Lil Nas X — and has a record 232 entries on the Hot 100 chart.
He also holds records for top 10s on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (45), No. 1s on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart (22), and top 40 hits on the Hot 100 (120). Whether you hate him or love him, Drake’s the most accomplished artist of the past decade and his influence on hip-hop and pop culture is undeniable.
The Billboard Music Awards air live from Los Angeles on Sunday, May 23 at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT on NBC.