Drake recently celebrated having his collaborative album with 21 Savage, Her Loss, hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts, as did a select handful of songs from the record. Yet, after “Rich Flex” came in only second place — with Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” spending a third week at the top — the Canadian rapper decided to throw what many suspect is some serious shade.
Although Drake and Swift have appeared to have a longtime friendship, from posing for photos together since 2013 to hanging outside of award shows, his new Instagram Story covered her chart placement completely with emojis. It sparked the question: why? And if it wasn’t shade, why didn’t he cover up the other placement in the top 10 from Sam Smith and Kim Petras?
Drake covers up Taylor Swift’s #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with emojis in his latest Instagram story. pic.twitter.com/M3wAECSMyu
— Pop Base (@PopBase) November 14, 2022
To make matters worse, Drake’s album producer Vinylz had some even more shady words on his social media. “The world knows what the real #1 song is… #RichFlex,” he wrote.”No tricks on this side.”
Just last month, The Sun claimed that the duo had recorded a diss track together for her 2017 album, Reputation, but it didn’t make the cut. As she is in the process of re-recording her albums, she might’ve wanted to revisit their song for the eventual Reputation (Taylor’s Version) release. However, Drake has also since deleted the photo he had with Swift from his Instagram.
Continue scrolling for some additional fan reactions.
mind you he decided to release around midnights even tho taylor announced it WEEKS before… he’s too grown to be acting this way
— Britt ~ fan acc (@taysrep89) November 15, 2022
Yey congratulation pic.twitter.com/3MnshpkJLv
— cat (Taylor version) (@catshop28) November 14, 2022
— did phoebe bridgers release an album today? (@didphoebe) November 14, 2022
He just ashamed to post it and show that a woman beat him to the top spot
— teupink (@teupink1) November 14, 2022