Here's Every Drake Win at the 2017 Billboard Music Awards
Breaking Adele’s record for having the most wins in a night.
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Although Drake has been nominated every single year for the Billboard Music Awards since 2011, it’s only last year that he has started actually winning awards — Drizzy took home a single trophy for Top Rap Artist in 2016. This year, however, panned out very differently for the “6 God.” While he gave a stunning “Gyalchester” performance in the middle of Las Vegas’s Bellagio fountains, the performance was minuscule in comparison to the wins Aubrey Graham took home last night.
Drake was nominated 22 times in 19 different categories and won 13 of them, taking home the night’s biggest awards including Top Artist, Top Billboard 200 Artist, Top Hot 100 Artist, Top Streaming Artist, Top Rap Artist and Top Male Artist. He surpassed Adele’s record of 12 wins, which she set in the 2012 show. The sweep was mainly due to his single “One Dance” — the best-performing single worldwide of 2016 and the most streamed song on Spotify ever — and his latest album Views, which has sold 1.61 million recognized copies and a total of 4.14 million album-equivalent units in the United States alone as of January. With 14 total wins, Drake just needs seven more trophies to catch up to Taylor Swift, who holds the record at 21.
In celebration of Drake’s accomplishments tonight, we too the chance to round up all of his wins at the 2017 Billboard Music Award, including his acceptance speeches, as well as the names of nominees he was pitted up against.
Top Artist
Let’s all give a round of 👏 for your #BBMAs Top Artist, @Drake! He now holds the record for most wins in a year! pic.twitter.com/HtZbBYmOTR
— BillboardMusicAwards (@BBMAs) May 22, 2017
Drake beat out all the heavy-weight contestants in the most coveted category of the night, including previous record holder Adele, fellow Canadian superstars Justin Bieber and The Weeknd, as well as Rihanna and Beyoncé. In celebration, Drizzy brought out his “family” onstage to receive the award with him, including his father Dennis Graham, his Young Money comraderies Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne.
NOMINEES
Adele
Beyoncé
Justin Bieber
The Chainsmokers
Ariana Grande
Shawn Mendes
Rihanna
Twenty One Pilots
The Weeknd
Top Male Artist
Drake top Male Artist at the Billboard Awards #BBMAs #BBMAs2017 #BBMA #BBMAsUnlimited #DRAKExBBMAs #drake #NowPlaying #TuneIn #socialmedia pic.twitter.com/LFZ271M6Zx
— Bear Vibes (@BearVibesMedia) May 22, 2017
Even when facing-off against his fellow Canadian hyper-stars Justin Bieber and The Weeknd, as well as his What A Time to Be Alive partner-in-crime Future, Drake had no problems taking home the award for Top Male Artist. In his acceptance speech, Drake shouts out his Canadian contenders and dedicated his awards to “all the managers, producers and fans.”
NOMINEES
Justin Bieber
Future
Shawn Mendes
The Weeknd
Top Billboard 200 Album
During his speech, Drake gave a shout out to Vanessa Hudgens for “looking incredible” and followed her on Instagram shortly after. He also took the opportunity to squash his “beef” with Ludacris. Back in 2011, Drake and Big Sean reportedly accused Ludacris of stealing their “Supa Dupa” flow, to which got Ludacris to release “Bada Boom,” a diss track directed at the both of them.
NOMINEES
Anti – Rihanna
Blurryface – Twenty One Pilots
Lemonade – Beyoncé
Starboy – The Weeknd
Top Hot 100 Artist
Drake’s Views beat out Rihanna’s Anti, The Weekend’s Starboy and Beyoncé’s Lemonade for the Top Billboard 200 album. While Views generally received lukewarm reviews from critics, Views debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, with 1.04 million album-equivalent units, selling 852,000 copies in its first week and gaining over 245 million streams despite being available only on Apple Music for its first two weeks of release.
NOMINEES
The Chainsmokers
Rihanna
Twenty One Pilots
The Weeknd
Top Billboard 200 Artist
Drizzy won the Top Artist award, so it comes as no surprise that he won all the other Top Artist awards too. The 6 God beat Beyoncé, Prince, Twenty One Pilots and The Weeknd as the top Billboard 200 artist. While some may argue that the nominees had albums that garnered better critical reception, none of their albums came close to what Views achieved in terms of sales and streams.
NOMINEES
Beyoncé
Prince
Twenty One Pilots
The Weeknd
Top Streaming Artist
With “One Dance,” Drake was the first artist to reach one billion plays on Spotify for a single track. Views is hands down the most streamed album of 2016, according to Nielsen Music. As of January 2017, the album earned 4.14 million equivalent units during the year with 1.61 million of that coming from traditional album sales.
NOMINEES
The Chainsmokers
Desiigner
Rihanna
Twenty One Pilots
Top Rap Artist
While J. Cole’s 4 Your Eyez Only did impressive numbers — it earned 492,000 equivalent album units in the week, it came in as the third-largest debut of 2016, behind Beyonce’s Lemonade (653,000) and Drake’s Views (1.04 million units.) Future and Rae Sremmurd’s albums moved 140,000 units and 30,000 their first weeks respectively, and despite winning Top Rap Song for “Panda,” Desiigner only moved 15,662 albums.
NOMINEES
J. Cole
Desiigner
Future
Rae Sremmurd
Top Rap Album
Drake’s Views moved 1.04 million units its first week, compared to J Cole’s 492,000, Kevin Gates’ 112,000, DJ Khaled’s 95,000 and A Tribe Called Quest’s 135,000. As of January 2017, Views has sold a total of 4.14 million album-equivalent units in the United States, J. Cole’s has sold 987,598 (April 2017), Kevin Gates has sold over a million (August 2016) and DJ Khaled has moved over 500,000 (November 2016).
NOMINEES
4 Your Eyez Only – J. Cole
Islah – Kevin Gates
Major Key – DJ Khaled
We Got It from Here… Thank You 4 Your Service – A Tribe Called Quest
Top Song Sales Artist
NOMINEES
The Chainsmokers
Prince
Justin Timberlake
Twenty One Pilots
Top Streaming Song (Audio)
Drake’s “One Dance” is the most streamed song on Spotify (1.2 billion) and is the first to hit the billion mark. In comparison, D.R.A.M.’s “Broccoli” sits at 345 million, The Chainsmokers‘ “Closer” just hit the billion mark, Rihanna’s “Needed Me” is approaching the half-billion point and The Weeknd’s “Starboy” is at 725 million.
NOMINEES
“Broccoli” – D.R.A.M. featuring Lil Yachty
“Closer” – The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey
“Needed Me” – Rihanna
“Starboy” – The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk
Top R&B Song
Even though “One Dance” is technically a dancehall and afrobeat-influenced song, it won in the category of Top R&B Song against Bruno Mars’ “24K Magic” (synth-funk) Rihanna’s “Needed Me,” Rihanna and Drake’s “Work” (also dancehall) and The Weeknd’s “Starboy.”
NOMINEES
Bruno Mars, “24K Magic”
Rihanna, “Needed Me”
Rihanna featuring Drake, “Work”
The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk, “Starboy“
Top R&B Collaboration
Drake was nominated three times in this category for “One Dance,” PartyNextDoor’s “Come and See Me” and Rihanna’s “Work.” As expected, “One Dance” came out on top, also beating The Weeknd and Daft Punk’s “I Feel It Coming” and “Starboy.”
NOMINEES
PARTYNEXTDOOR featuring Drake, “Come and See Me”
Rihanna featuring Drake, “Work”
The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk, “I Feel It Coming”
The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk, “Starboy“
Top Rap Tour
While Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo tour was definitely a worthy contender of Top Rap Tour, Yeezy calls off final 21 North American tour dates due to exhaustion, sleep deprivation and declining mental health. Drake ultimately came out on top with his ‘Summer Sixteen’ tour, even though it was co-headlined by Future.
NOMINEES
Future
Kanye West
