Drake

Drake turned a teenage acting job into one of the most dominant runs in modern music. Born Aubrey Drake Graham on October 24, 1986, in Toronto, he was a cast member on the teen drama Degrassi before he ever released a record. Once he committed to music, he helped make rap-singing the default sound of the 2010s, broke a long list of chart records, and turned each album release into an event. He has won five Grammy Awards from fifty-six nominations and holds more Billboard Music Awards than any other male artist.

From Degrassi to So Far Gone

Before the music, Drake played Jimmy Brooks on the Canadian series Degrassi: The Next Generation. He started putting out mixtapes in 2006, but the one that changed everything was So Far Gone in 2009, a moody blend of rapping and singing that built a huge online following and led to a major-label deal. His debut album, Thank Me Later, arrived in 2010 and went straight to number one.

Take Care and a new sound

Take Care, released in 2011, is the record that defined him. Its mix of late-night R&B and confessional rap won Best Rap Album at the Grammys and changed what a rap album could sound like. The title track paired him with Rihanna, and the album’s introspective tone set a template that countless artists would copy. Nothing Was the Same followed in 2013 with “Started From the Bottom” and “Hold On, We’re Going Home”.

Chart records and streaming

From there the numbers became staggering. Views in 2016 sat at number one for months and produced the global hit “One Dance”. Scorpion in 2018 gave him “God’s Plan”, “Nice for What” and “In My Feelings”, and for long stretches of the streaming era he was the most-played artist in the world. “Toosie Slide” debuted at number one, and “First Person Shooter” with J. Cole later tied him with Michael Jackson for the most number-one singles by a solo male artist.

OVO and the Toronto scene

Drake built more than a solo career. With his producer Noah “40” Shebib and Oliver El-Khatib he founded October’s Very Own, which grew into the OVO Sound label. He gave an early platform to fellow Toronto artist The Weeknd and signed acts like PartyNextDoor, helping turn his home city into a recognised force in modern R&B and rap.

The Grammys, on his terms

His relationship with the Grammys has been a tense one. He has won five times, including for Take Care, “Hotline Bling” and “God’s Plan”, out of fifty-six nominations. Yet he has also pulled nominations in protest, arguing the awards did not represent hip-hop fairly. Few artists have been this successful at an institution while staying so openly skeptical of it.

The 2024 rivalry and after

In 2024 a long-running rivalry with Kendrick Lamar spilled into the open across a run of diss tracks that dominated the year. Drake later took legal action against his own label over the promotion of one of those songs, a case that was dismissed. He answered the noise with more music: the 2025 album Some Sexy Songs 4 U with PartyNextDoor, then a return to solo singles that kept charting near the top.

A run that keeps going

In May 2026 Drake released three albums on the same day, Iceman, Maid of Honour and Habibti, a scale of output that matched his habit of flooding the charts. Across mixtapes, albums and guest verses, he has spent more than fifteen years as one of the most-streamed and most-imitated artists alive. His catalogue runs deep enough that almost everyone knows a Drake hook, even when they cannot name the song.

Most loved songs

A spread across his catalogue. Each title opens through the in-site player.

From a club hit to a slow-burn R&B cut or a verse you cannot quite place, the odds are good that a Drake song has passed through your headphones. Type the line you remember into the search box above and you may find it leads back to him.