The late Florida emcee XXXTentacion has officially become the first rapper to have his album surpass 10 billion streams on Spotify. The lyricist’s sophomore project, ?, which featured his hit ‘SAD!’, is now another hip-hop body of work to break a Spotify record.
The album, which was released in 2018, was made available on streaming platforms just three months before the rapper was murdered in Broward County at the age of 20 and was the last album officially released by the emcee (real name Jahseh Onfroy).
The body of work featured a range of MCs, including Joey Bada$$, Travis Barker and PnB Rock, among others. The latter artist is also now deceased, sadly shot at Roscoe’s House of Chicken ‘N Waffles in South Los Angeles.
? was received well by critics upon its release, and the album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. The project became the most-streamed rap body of work of all time in July and was among a few hip-hop albums featured in Spotify’s ‘Top 50’ list.
Other rap projects that featured in the ‘Top 50’ include Drake’s Scorpion and Views at number two and three, respectively, the late Juice WRLD’s Goodbye & Good Riddance at number four and Travis Scott’s Astroworld at number five. However, ? was the highest concerning hip-hop.
Many fans assumed that Eminem, Lil Wayne or an artist like Nicki Minaj would have first reached the top spot. However, it becomes more understandable upon the realisation that four songs on the album have racked up more than a billion streams each. These tracks are ‘Hope,’ ‘Changes’ and the mega-hit, ‘Moonlight’.
Moreover, the album’s biggest hit, “SAD!,” has accrued over two billion streams, making it the 50th most-streamed song on the entire platform. Even though he passed away in 2018, XXXTentatcion is still breaking records.