Canadian-born rapper Drake clocked massive sales and streaming numbers with the September release of his sixth album Certified Lover Boy — so much so that he became the subject of internet chatter when fans began comparing his success to Michael Jackson.
Certified Lover Boy did 744 million streams in its first week; nine tracks from the album hit the Top 10 on the Billboard 100, setting a record for the most-ever Top 10 singles from one album of any artist.
The King of Pop held the previous record, with seven of the songs from his 1982 album Thriller making the chart. Jackson’s younger sister Janet Jackson had similar success with her 1989 album Rhythm Nation 1814.
While social media users were split on the comparison, Jackson’s son Prince didn’t take offense as many others did. But he let it be known that there is only one Michael Jackson.
“I mean everybody has their own definition of great, and all respect to Drake everything that he does,” Prince said in a recent interview with TooFab, “But what my father and my family accomplished, in the time that they did it, is very unlikely never to be matched again.”
Drake has always spoken highly of Michael Jackson. He featured a sample of his vocals from an unreleased session with Paul Anka on his 2018 song “Don’t Matter to Me.” Drake also once revealed that his popular viral dance move was also inspired by Jackson.
“When I first made that song I was only talking about the moonwalk. But Toosie made a dance to that s—, I didn’t know it was gonna be a dance song like that,” he said during a live DJ session.
Drake spoke to MTV about his love for Jackson and the icon’s impact, noting that his work made him “realize the power of an entertainer.”
“I remember having Moonwalker on cassette and I remember how religiously I used to watch it,” he said. “Because I used to feel like, as a kid, this was the most amazing place to escape to. It was that world he created. I just feel like he was the first artist that I ever experienced that made you get lost in Michael Jackson, his music, his imagery, the choices that he made for cover art. Now that I’m older, I can look back and be like, wow, he was one of the most consistent entertainers of all time,” he said.
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