Kendrick Lamar has officially surpassed 50 billion total streams on Spotify. He's just the 14th artist in history to hit the mark overall and only the fifth rapper to do so. The only other hip-hop artists to cross 50 billion are Travis Scott, Eminem, Kanye West, and his current rival, Drake.
Among the group, Lamar has the third fewest credited songs of any artist to hit 50 billion and the fewest of the rappers. He reached the milestone with just 251 tracks. The update comes after Lamar's 2017 album, Damn, surpassed 10 billion streams alone, earlier this month.
Lamar has released a total of six studio albums over the course of his career, including Section.80, Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, To Pimp a Butterfly, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, and GNX, in addition to Damn. Some of his most popular songs on Spotify include "luther," "All The Stars," "Not Like Us," and "Money Trees," among others.
Kendrick Lamar "Not Like Us"
Despite the popularity of Kendrick Lamar's music over the last year, the success hasn't come without its challenges. Drake is in the process of taking legal action against Universal Music Group over the company's promotion of Lamar's hit song, "Not Like Us." Drake alleges that UMG used "covert tactics" to artificially increase the popularity of the song, which he says contains defamatory lyrics.
On "Not Like Us," Lamar raps: "Certified Lover Boy? Certified pedophiles... Why you trollin' like a b*tch? Ain't you tired? / Tryna strike a chord and it's probably A minor."
In other news, Lamar is currently traveling on his Grand National Tour alongside SZA, who has been serving as a co-headliner. Following a show in Stockholm, Sweden on August 9th, the two are taking a brief pause from performing. The tour will resume in Mexico City, Mexico on September 23. They still have dates in Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, and Australia on the schedule.
