Apple Music Crowns Drake the Best Rapper of 2026
Apple Music put it in writing on Tuesday: Drake is the Best Rapper of 2026.
The title came with the platform’s “Rap Life: Best of 2026” playlist, which puts The Boy front and center as the face of the year in rap. In its editorial, Apple Music called 2026 Drake’s “loudest comeback in years,” pointing to the three-album release weekend that spanned hip-hop, R&B and dance.
That weekend landed back in May, when Drake surprise-dropped three albums at once — ICEMAN, HABIBTI and MAID OF HONOUR — 43 new songs in a single weekend. ICEMAN did the heavy lifting: it opened with 463,000 equivalent album units in the U.S., and the three projects took the top three spots on the Billboard 200 at the same time.
Apple Music said ICEMAN became the first rap album released in 2026 to cross 2 billion streams, calling it a reassertion of Drake’s “rightful claim to hip-hop’s hitmaking throne.” The 50-track Rap Life playlist also features Lil Baby, 21 Savage, Gunna, Don Toliver, DaBaby, Lil Uzi Vert and Yung Miami.
The full-circle part of this story is real. Drake helped launch Apple Music back in 2015, and his 2016 album VIEWS started as an Apple Music exclusive and became the platform’s first project to pass 1 billion streams. During the 2024 feud with Kendrick Lamar, though, Apple Music caught backlash from Drake fans for leaning into “Not Like Us” promotion. Two years later, the same platform is handing him the crown.
So let’s talk about it: did Apple Music get it right — is Drake the Best Rapper of 2026, or does the crown belong to somebody else?
Story: Apple Music’s “Rap Life: Best of 2026” editorial (Nov. 3, 2026), first flagged by Kurrco; additional reporting from HotNewHipHop, The Source and JB Republic. Photo via JB Republic.
