TORONTO — Drake is putting himself ahead of The Beatles after recently shattering another of the Fab Four’s chart records.
The Toronto rapper posted a photograph on his Instagram Monday that appears to show a new tattoo on his forearm — an illustration of the British band crossing Abbey Road while Drake stands at the front of the line, waving at them.
His ink reveal comes after Drake passed The Beatles for the most charted songs in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 in June.
He now holds 35 songs in the upper echelons of the chart, compared to the Beatles’ 34.
Drake has long maintained a one-sided rivalry with the iconic British band. After shattering their record of 12 hit singles in a year in 2018, Drake jumped on Meek Mill’s track “Going Bad” to proclaim that he’s “got more slaps than The Beatles.”
But Drake is also making waves on the Billboard 200 album chart where his new compilation “Care Package” notched his ninth No. 1 album.
“Care Package,” debuted in the top position on the U.S. chart with 109,000 equivalent album units — a tabulation that accounts for both digital sales and streaming plays. Of that amount, 16,000 copies came from digital album sales.
The album is a collection of B-sides from throughout his career, many which had never received an official release.
Streaming music has dramatically changed how chart services like Billboard quantify the success of artists. With physical sales representing a shrinking part of the music industry, tabulation services have created new calculations to try and set a similar bar.
The changes have meant longstanding records held by performers like Madonna, Michael Jackson and The Beatles have been handily smashed by contemporary performers.
But it’s also created a volatile chart environment where a record achieved one month is suddenly beaten by another artist not long afterwards.
Lil Nas X’s summertime hit “Old Town Road,” which features Billy Ray Cyrus, reached one of those milestones when it surpassed the record set by Drake’s “One Dance” on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs chart this week.
Drake’s track spent 18 weeks at No.1.