Drake comes out on top as the most-streamed artist in 2020. According to two of the industry’s esteemed streaming services, the “Toosie Slide” rapper outdid 49 other musicians by accruing more than five billion streams.
On Saturday (Jan. 2), HITS Daily Double posted their final list of the most-streamed artist of the year. Drake sits at the top of the list at 5.6 billion streams. While his extensive discography always adds to the count, Drake’s streams got a boost this year when he dropped off his sole project of 2020, Dark Lane Demo Tapes, and his booming single “Laugh Now, Cry Later” featuring Lil Durk.
Other artists made the top five like the late Juice WRLD, who garnered 5.3 billion streams after he passed away from an accidental drug overdose. His streams got a boost after his posthumous project Legends Never Die dropped in July. Coming in third place is Youngboy Never Broke Again, who topped the Billboard 200 chart in 2020 after he released projects like Still Flexin, Still Steppin, 38 Baby 2, Until I Return and Top. Lil Uzi Vert and Post Malone close out the top five.
The top of the year-end list also includes other notable artists like the late Pop Smoke, who also got a boost in streams when his posthumous album Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon dropped in July. Lil Baby, Taylor Swift, The Weeknd and Dababy made the list as well after locking in more than 3.3 billion streams.
The list of most-streamed artists comes not long after other tributes to 2020 came pouring in. On New Year’s Day, Beyoncé released a brief video filled with unreleased footage of her best moments of the year including the release of Black Is King and her collaboration with Megan Thee Stallion on “Savage (Remix).”
