Yeah, because his proximity to Drake did a lot to raise his profile, something when 21 Savage himself admitted to. Since 2020, he's scored massive hits with Drake + other artists and is just getting off the biggest tour of his career (also the biggest rap tour ever) and he has the extra benefit of many people actually anticipating his latest solo release because they mostly believe he's only ever gotten better as a rapper. Add in all the hype he's amassed and if all of that can't translate to at least a 200k first week, that'd be an underperformance for him imo (not a flop).

All he'd need to pull off a 200k+ debut is 265M US streams or more. That's not a lot tbh.

Over half of streaming is made up of those 16-34. Around 54/55% to be exact. That’s not soccer mom age, or at least the idea of soccer moms that y’all always talk about

I wouldn't say he's despised by white women. He just doesn't make the brand of music that appeals as well to that demographic. He made that brand of music in 2016-2018 and it's no surprise that those were 3 of his biggest years commercially where he scored his biggest career hits. He's mostly turned away from making those type of hits since then and it's reflected in how his songs have performed on the charts since.

Also I don’t get why some of y’all act like there’s this “either or” dilemma. A white soccer mom can easily player Taylor Swift around her kids and then play whatever else she wants to by herself or when she’s not around them. Just because someone is listening to Taylor Swift does not mean they are not listening to Drake, or vice versa.

You don’t amass billions upon billions of streams per year in America without being adored by white people

This doesn’t go agains anything I have said lmao. 45% of the streaming demo is over 35 and the white population over 35 is DRASTICALLY less likely to listen to current Hip Hop releases.

So yes, you further pointed out that Drake is disadvantaged with a notable portion of consumers in comparison to someone like Taylor. You are agreeing that a substantial part of white consumers are middle aged (even if not the majority).

i would’ve agreed if they didnt use that nut ass trailer as the only promo

What are you even talking about

Who said the majority of middle aged people are white? What does that even mean

I would say, though, more important than the debut week, is how much longevity 21's album ends up having. That's really what matters at the end of the day in the streaming era. I hope the album does wonders for him because we definitely have a shortage of rap albums doing that these days.

Drake raked in 17.6 billion streams on Spotify ALONE in 2023, and some of y’all are really in here saying that white people don’t like him

I’ll admit if I’m off base (I probably am going off hyperbolic I was lol) but I’ve been seeing them talk about bro like he’s a status quo symbol that the next counter culture movement needs to thwart

Then there’s the other noticeable diminishing fervor

after actually listening to the 21 album and seeing reception i think 150-175k is the most realistic

Yeah, that was very silly. Should have just announced it as a new album without the whole movie shenanigans but I don't think that matters as much because he spent the rest of the week clarifying that it was actually an album + he teased the features and the album is out now so the word is out there at this point.

the billie & millie s\*\*\* did him in with them folks tbh

and for sure he stopped making those type of crossover records

Me: “Drake appeals to a lot of white people relatively but still is not gonna ever have the same reach as a white singer with that demo”

You: proceeds to highlight 45%~ of streaming users are 35+.

If 45% of white ppl who use streaming are indeed the soccer mom age and most likely wouldn’t ever listen to new Rap releases you are in fact highlighting Drake will never have the potential white appeal of a Taylor Swift or Morgan Wallen

The amount of people who even know that is combined with the amount of people who know what that is and stopped listening to him because of it is a decimal percentage of the population. White people love Drake lmao

That’s not 45% of white people, that’s 45% of Spotify users, of ALL races

I am aware. From the statistic provided you could assume it doesn’t have much difference/disparity when also broken down by race.

Are you suggesting white people over 35+ use streaming at drastically less rates than other races over 35?

All I am saying is that you cannot amass billions upon billions upon billions of streams in America if white people are not listening to you in droves. You saying Drake will never have the soccer mom audience of Taylor and Morgan is a moot point when he’s consistently been outstreaming them for years now, or he’s only right behind Taylor for the past year or two

Like if you’re saying Drake might never have 100 million white fans, but he still has 70-80 million. It’s a moot point. The disparity is not big enough to make any real difference

I don’t think Morgan Wallen really has this crossover appeal that you guys talk about

And there’s a difference between average listeners belonging to the biggest demographic of a country playing your tunes (back catalogue as well) Willy nilly cause you’re the biggest reliable rapper for average folks

And being loved within a culture because you appeal to their standards and taste. The numbers between the two for an active megastar won’t be drastically different or even much different at all but you can still see it

This guy drake might get another week at #1 3 months after his album released 😭 and they’ll call it a flop wtf

That’s where I commend the boy for killing the game still cause he really not making crossover type songs like that no more. And no, just cause he can still write strong hooks and quotables doesn’t change that

The hate definitely doesn’t translate. A 3 month old album being #2 still selling 60k every week doesn’t make any sense when everyone on twitter will tell you its wack lol. Drake did it again.

3 months for one of the biggest artists in the world, the album should still be within the Top 10 on the charts.

We will re-evaluate its’ position towards the middle of this year to see how it’s doing

2 21 Savage songs are doing better than Ariana’s song on Apple Music.