The battle between Kanye West and Drake’s album releases have come to a head, as the former’s Donda and latter’s Certified Lover Boy were released within days of one another.
While the two took subtle shots at each other in preparation for their A-list collaboration-heavy albums to drop, both men were doing numbers. After ‘Ye briefly leaked Drizzy’s home numbers, Drake had the last laugh on “7am on Bridle Path.” It’s too early to calculate CLB’s commercial success, but West has already been clocking in record numbers on Apple Music with Donda.
Take a look at Billboard’s weekly roundup and the “awards” it gave to this week’s headlines.
Sweetest Music News: Drake’s mom sends him notes prior to Certified Lover Boy’s arrival
Certified Lover Boy arrived on Friday (Sept. 3), but in the immediate days leading up to the album’s arrival, Drake proved he was a Certified Mama’s Boy when he revealed on his Instagram Stories that his mother Sandi Graham had been sending him sweet countdown notes. Read them here and listen to CLB here.
Funniest Music News: Lil Nas X clowns Drake’s CLB cover while announcing he’s pregnant
Drake announced CLB’s arrival on Monday (Aug. 30) by sharing the album artwork — a colorful collage of the pregnant mom emojis. But what he wasn’t expecting was Lil Nas X to clown him with an identical cover for his own album Montero featuring pregnant men emojis. And since Montero is LNX’s baby, he decided to come out with his own pregnancy photos. See them here and here.
Savviest Music News: Billboard announces new SiriusXM show Billboard Live
Billboard announced on Tuesday (Aug. 31) we’re launching a new SiriusXM radio show called Billboard Live, which will premiere on Sept. 7 and air every Tuesday from 10 a.m. to noon ET on SiriusXM’s Volume channel. Hosted by Billboard senior editor Lyndsey Havens and hip-hop editor Carl Lamarre, Billboard Live will go on a deep dive into the hottest artists, releases, chart insights and music festivals and tours, as well as invite artists and industry executives as guests. Learn more here.
Wildest Music News: Olivia Rodrigo loses millions from Sour publishing royalties
God, it’s brutal out here. Olivia Rodrigo’s interpolations of Paramore and Taylor Swift’s songs have proven incredibly costly for the 18-year-old singer and her co-songwriter Dan Nigro, who have had to fork over more than $2 million in publishing royalties to the other artists based on three songs from Rodrigo’s debut album Sour. Learn more about Billboard’s calculations here.
Most Surprising Music News: Kanye drops Donda
After hosting three star-studded listening events in Atlanta and Chicago over the course of weeks, Kanye finally dropped his 10th studio album, Donda, on Sunday (Aug. 29). The 27-track project comes three days after his third and final listening event in Chicago’s Soldier Field — where he recreated his childhood home — and features collaborations with Jay-Z, The Weeknd, Lil Baby, Travis Scott, Young Thug, Pop Smoke, Kid Cudi, Pusha T, Roddy Ricch and many more. Listen here.
Most Record-Breaking Music News: Kanye sets Apple Music streaming record with Donda
Kanye earned 60 million streams in the U.S. during the first 24 hours Donda was available on Apple Music, setting a new 2021 record for the streaming service. Donda becomes the third-most streamed album ever in the first 24 hours of its release. Additionally, his Chicago-based event that was livestreamed on Apple Music gained 5.9 million viewers last Thursday, breaking the record again. Read more here and here.
Most Impressive Music News: ABBA returns after four decades with new album & virtual concert run
Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! On Thursday (Sept. 2), ABBA confirmed the Swedish quartet have reunited after four decades, and recorded a new album, Voyage, which they will perform during a residency-like run of shows in London starting in May 2022. Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid (Frida) Lyngstad, Agnetha Fälskog and Björn Ulvaeus will be reborn as digital avatars and bring Voyage to life, which is due Nov. 5. “We took a break in the spring of 1982 and now we’ve decided it’s time to end it. They say it’s foolhardy to wait more than 40 years between albums, so we’ve recorded a follow-up to The Visitors,” the group said in a statement. Read more here.
