Following a few days of excited anticipation, Kendrick Lamar is now officially the first hip-hop artist to garner over 100 million monthly listeners on Spotify as of Monday morning (February 17). Folks were waiting for this moment for a while now, as they predicted his Super Bowl halftime show would put his numbers up even more and witnessed how, day by day, his monthly listeners rose and rose. This is massive for K.Dot, who's never prioritized numbers and commercial performance in his art or in his public moves. So maybe his fans are exaggerating the worth of this achievement more than they would've this time last year. But nevertheless, it's worthy of praise.
What's more is that this isn't Kendrick Lamar's only astonishing, albeit supplementary, commercial development this week. He became the first lead artist in the United States to garner a billion streams in 2025. In addition, the Compton lyricist reportedly became the first MC to have three albums chart simultaneously on the Billboard 200 albums chart's top ten. We still need to see the official chart to know for sure. But reports and projections indicate that GNX returned to the top spot, whereas DAMN. and good kid, m.A.A.d. city claimed the last two slots in the top ten.
Kendrick Lamar Super Bowl Backlash
All of this follows overwhelming critical praise for Kendrick Lamar... For the most part. DJ Hed recently posited that hate towards his Super Bowl is because people don't like the West Coast. "It's egregious how much he [Kendrick] is leaning in," he remarked on the Bigger Picture podcast. "We didn't like him for that. We liked him because he's like us. He talking about 'slidin.' He sound just like them now. Well, surprise, he's been one of us the whole time. I think the people don't like that."
Meanwhile, as "Not Like Us" continues to dominate streaming charts, Kendrick Lamar can probably coast off of his past 11 months for 11 more years. But people hope that he takes some time to think about his next big move. After all, the wait for "Like That" is part of what made it so impactful.
