The epic diss track battle between Kendrick Lamar and Drake in recent weeks caught the attention of both music fans and the general public alike. It was the rare sort of crossover that not only captivated loyal super fans but also major brands, political figures and more. These onlookers observed and even participated in the social media conversation surrounding the two artists in what has become an instant-classic battle royale.
Much of the conversation around the discourse centers on “who won,” but these releases also reveal a unique difference in who is tuning into these diss tracks versus the rest of the Drake and Kendrick Lamar catalogs.
While the diss track battle captured the attention of the U.S. public, the overall streaming share between U.S. and Ex-U.S. markets leans more to the former when compared to the rest of the artists’ catalogs. This indicates that U.S. fans were particularly focused on the back-and-forth while international audiences weren’t as focused on it as their American counterparts. U.S. On-Demand Audio streaming of Drake’s catalog typically represents 58.9% share. Isolating for the diss tracks, Drake’s U.S. share increases slightly to 60.1%. Notably, Kendrick Lamar’s split shows a much larger increase. In year-to-date streaming through the week ending 5/16/24, Lamar posts a 50.7% U.S./49.3% Ex-U.S. split in his catalog outside of diss tracks. However, his diss tracks show a much more U.S.-focused audience as the share of U.S. streaming on these songs is 62.2%, +11.5 percentage share points.
U.S. Hip-Hop/Rap fans who stream music are strongly invested in their favorite artists. Luminate Insights consumer research reveals they are +36% more likely to agree or strongly agree with the statement “artists opinions matter to me” when compared to the average U.S. music listener, and they are +28% more likely to state that “I like following an artist’s personal life.” These attitudes are on display as U.S. fans actively followed the back-and-forth.
SOURCE:
LUMINATE MUSIC CONSUMPTION DATA
LUMINATE INSIGHTS ARTIST & GENRE TRACKER CONSUMER RESERACH DATA
Diss Tracks Analyzed: Drake: Drake, J. Cole “First Person Shooter”, “Push Ups”, “Family Matters” / Kendrick Lamar: “Not Like Us”, “Meet the Grahams”, “euphoria”
