Drake’s new album Scorpion matches Springsteen and surpasses Taylor Swift on the charts

The rapper’s new album is breaking records and experiencing unprecedented success.

If there’s such a thing as cosmic, karmic balance, Drake seems to have achieved it, by transmuting how much the internet loves to dunk on and memeify him into record-breaking success for his fifth studio album, Scorpion.

Scorpion, which was released on June 28, consists of 25 tracks packaged as a double album, with the A-side primarily composed of hip-hop tracks, and the B-side made up of R&B and pop. In other words, it’s a lot of album, with a lot to say, and in the weeks since its debut, it’s stayed a hot commodity for more reasons than one.

The album has enjoyed a meteoric rise on the charts

As of now, Scorpion is only the fourth album ever to have seven top 10 Hot 100 hits, after Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814, Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A., and Michael Jackson’s Thriller. (Notably, one of Drake’s seven songs, “Don’t Matter to Me,” features previously unreleased vocals from the late Jackson.)

Within the Hot 100 top 10, Drake has also broken the record for most top 10 Hot 100 debuts in a week with four debuts, which has brought his cumulative total of top 10 Hot 100 debuts to 16, outranking Taylor Swift at 14 to become the artist with the most top 10 Hot 100 debuts ever.

The album has also achieved unprecedented success when it comes to streaming, breaking Apple Music’s single-day streaming record and becoming the first album to surpass 1 billion streams in a single week.

Scorpion is also drawing attention for delving into Drake’s personal life

The album has also made waves for confirming that Drake recently became a dad, setting to rest rumors that he fathered a son with French artist and former porn actress Sophie Brussaux in October 2017. The confirmation, present in the track “March 14” as well as in Drake’s ruminations on fatherhood elsewhere in the album, serves as a response of sorts to Pusha T’s recent diss track “The Story of Adidon” — part of a longstanding feud, and the impetus behind quite a few good Drake dunks — as well as ongoing public speculation about Drake’s private life.

It adds a layer of complexity to Scorpion, as Drake raps about his relationship to fame, family, and social media. But for as angsty as the album can get, the rapper is now riding high on its success, with the record soaring on the charts and even spawning a social media challenge, #DoTheShiggy, or the #InMyFeelingsChallenge, named after (and involving) one of the songs.