Tyler, The Creator (real name Tyler Okonma) is one of the most exciting young minds in hip hop, and since the early 2010s, Okonma has been bringing us interesting, boundary-pushing music. From Goblin to Flower Boy, the LA rapper has been challenging the status quo for years, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed. As one of the first members of Odd future to garner mainstream attention, Tyler, The Creator, is Odd Future’s best-performing artist.
Born and raised in the Los Angeles neighbourhood of Ladera Heights, Okonma was looked after solely by his mother. LA, akin to New York, was experiencing stagnation during the early 2010s. However, Odd Future (often stylised OFWGKTA) would soon put it to an end. Based primarily out of Los Angeles, Odd Future really burst onto the hip-hop scene in 2011. The collective’s distinct look came with an as distinct sound. OFWGKTA were pioneering in the way they effortlessly fused LA Skate culture with hip-hop.
The two completely separate entities that before would have seemed incompatible, Odd Future seamlessly married. The Skate culture came through how they dressed. They always had skateboards in their hands and Vans shoes on their feet. Furthermore, the crew wore skate clothing brands, brightly coloured tees and humorous sweatshirts, but somehow they made it work with hip-hop.
With group projects such as Radical, The Odd Future Tape and The Odd Future Tape Vol 2, the collective was unstoppable when at full throttle. However, when it came to members working on solo projects, only a handful of members had managed to gather enough of a cult following while in the crew to sustain a solo career after the crew’s dissipation. Unsurprisingly, Tyler was one of them.
Odd future was gifted its own label, Odd Future Records, under Sony Music Group. The rapper’s early projects would all be released through the label, with projects such as Goblin, Wolf and Cherry Bomb all receiving critical acclaim. With such talent and being so young, Okonma began to garner the attention of many in the music industry, including Steve Rifkind, Jimmy Iovine, and Jay-Z.
As 2014 came around, Tyler, The Creator’s association with Odd future began to die down, as did the movement as a whole. With a slow dissipation, Tyler, Frank Ocean and Earl Sweatshirt seemed to be the only members who had managed to make it out of the crew successfully as solo artists. However, Okonma would be the standout artist receiving vast amounts of critical acclaim for his ability to morph and integrate the sonics of hip-hop into other genres.
With his own festival Camp Flog Gnaw and an array of accolades under his belt, in this article, we’re going to break down the facts and figures to present you with the career of Tyler, The Creator, in numbers.
Tyler, The Creator’s solo albums:
Across his 12-year career, Tyler The Creator has released six studio albums, one EP and one solo mixtape. Tyler The Creator has had two number-one albums on the Billboard 200. As a lead artist, the rapper’s highest-selling solo album is his 2019 album, Igor. The project debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and is certified platinum in the US, and won a Grammy award in the category of ‘Best Rap Album’ at the 2020 awards.
Internationally, the project was still received well but did not perform as well as it did in the US. The album peaked at number four on the UK Albums Chart and is certified Gold in the UK. The body of work only featured one single, ‘Earfquake’, which peaked at 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 but has since gone on to become four-times-platinum.
Tyler, The Creator’s most streamed song:
As a lead artist, over his 12-year career span, Tyler, The Creator has released a total of 27 singles. However, his most streamed song of all time on the prevalent music streaming service Spotify is ‘See You Again’, the fourth single from his fourth album, Flower Boy. The single, as of 2023, has been streamed approximately 719.6 million times.
As a featured artist, André’s most streamed song is ‘After The Storm’ by Kali Uchis. The 2018 track from Uchis’s album Isolation did not enter the Billboard Hot 100 upon release but has been streamed approximately 313.6 million times.
Tyler The Creator’s biggest video on YouTube:
Okonma’s most viewed video on YouTube as a lead artist is the music video for his hit track ‘Yonkers’, which was released as the lead single for his debut album Goblin. The video has approximately 138 million views.
The rapper’s most viewed video as a featured artist is ‘After The Storm’ by Kali Uchis. The 2018 track from Uchis’s album Isolation has accumulated 111 million views since its upload.
Tyler, The Creator’s net worth:
Outside of music, Tyler, The Creator has made endeavours in the world of animation, comedy and has his own annual festival Camp Flog Gnaw. His adult sketch show Loiter Squad for Adult Swim TV was highly popular.
The LA rapper also launched a clothing line called Golf Wang in 2011 and had collaborations with Converse and Mountain Dew. As of 2023, Tyler, The Creator, is worth approximately $16 million.
