Drake

Drake brought rap-singing to the center of mainstream hip-hop while building one of the most commercially successful recording careers of his generation. Born Aubrey Drake Graham in Toronto on October 24, 1986, he first gained recognition playing Jimmy Brooks on CTV’s teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation, which ran from 2001 to 2008. He began releasing music independently with the mixtapes Room for Improvement (2006), Comeback Season (2007), and So Far Gone (2009), then signed with Lil Wayne’s Young Money Entertainment.

His 2010 debut album, Thank Me Later, opened at number one on the Billboard 200 and included “Best I Ever Had,” his breakthrough hit. He followed it with Take Care in 2011 and Nothing Was the Same in 2013. Take Care was later included in Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” list. Drake’s work is credited with popularizing R&B sensibilities in hip-hop through a style that moves between rapping and melodic vocals.

Views, his fourth studio album, spent 13 weeks atop the Billboard 200 in 2016. Its second single, “One Dance,” became the first song to surpass one billion streams on Spotify. His 2018 album Scorpion produced the singles “God’s Plan,” “Nice for What,” and “In My Feelings,” and spent 29 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100. During the 2020s, he amassed six US number-one albums, including Certified Lover Boy (2021) and Iceman (2026), which respectively generated nine and ten US top-ten songs. In 2026, he became the first artist to occupy the top three positions on the Billboard 200.

Among the world’s best-selling music artists, Drake has sold more than 170 million units and is the highest-certified digital singles artist in the United States. He has earned five Grammy Awards, six American Music Awards, 41 Billboard Music Awards, two Brit Awards, and three Juno Awards. Billboard named him Artist of the Decade for the 2010s, the highest-grossing hip-hop touring artist, and the fourth greatest pop star of the 21st century. His 15 Billboard 200 number-one albums and 14 Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles are records among male solo artists, and he also holds the most number-one singles on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Hot Rap Songs, and Rhythmic Airplay charts.

Outside music, Drake founded OVO Sound, the production company DreamCrew, and the fragrance house Better World. He became the Toronto Raptors’ global ambassador in 2013, joined the organization’s executive committee, and later obtained naming rights to its practice facility, the OVO Athletic Centre. His business ventures have also included Virginia Black bourbon with Brent Hocking, co-ownership of gaming organization 100 Thieves, the OVO fashion label, and Nocta, his collaboration with Nike. His 2015 partnership with Apple Music was credited with helping launch the platform successfully.