It goes without saying that it's been a wildly successful few weeks for Kendrick Lamar. Earlier this month, he won five Grammy awards for his hit Drake diss track "Not Like Us." The following weekend, he went on to perform it during his eagerly anticipated Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show. Now, he's gearing up for his "Grand National" tour with SZA, which kicks off in April.
Amid all of this, Kendrick has unsurprisingly maintained some impressive streaming numbers. On Friday (February 15), however, Drake and PartyNextDoor dropped their anxiously awaited new album $ome $exy $ongs 4 U just in time for Valentine's Day. It had a massive first day, becoming the fastest album to reach No. 1 on U.S. Apple Music in 2025. It even broke the record for the most first-day streams for an R&B/soul album in Apple Music history. While Drake continues to receive praise for his latest release online, Kendrick recently reclaimed his most-streamed rapper title on Spotify after just one day.
Kendrick Lamar's Streaming Numbers
While this is certainly something worth celebrating, it doesn't exaclty come as a huge surprise. Kendrick got a huge streaming boost from his Super Bowl performance, with GNX returning to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 this week. "Not Like Us" also remains at No. 1 on the global Spotify chart. Not everyone was a fan of the show, however. Following the record-breaking performance, Kendrick received some criticism for his setlist, with many arguing that he should have performed more of his hits.
Dave Free addressed this during an interview with The Wall Street Journal shortly after the show, noting how they had a clear vision. “We wanted this performance to have a cinematic and theatrical element to it. We can confidently say that there’s no Super Bowl performance that’s quite like this one,” he explained. “The feel of it is Black America. What does Black America look like, and how to control that narrative of what it means to be Black in America versus what the world’s perspective of that is."
