Kendrick Lamar's 'Not Like Us' Hits 1 Billion Streams After Unprecedented 2024

Kendrick Lamar is ringing in 2025 with a major reason to celebrate.

The song has now surpassed 1 billion total streams on Spotify.

"Not Like Us" was a massive success for Lamar, who topped the Billboard Hot 100 with the song. It went on to be named one of the best songs of the year by various publications, including Rolling Stone and Billboard.

While the song was generally praised, it has been the subject of a legal dispute with fellow rapper, Drake, about whom the song is allegedly about.

Late last year, Drake filed multiple legal actions over the song and alleges that Universal Music Group paid stations to play the song to increase its popularity. Additionally, Drake alleges that UMG knew that "Not Like Us" falsely called him various derogatory names such as a "pedophile" and still chose to release the song.

In a separate legal action, Drake claimed UMG falsely inflated the streaming numbers of "Not Like Us" as well.

While Lamar is gearing up for an eventful 2025, he is going on tour with SZA to promote his new album GNX, as well as headlining the 2025 Super Bowl. That was also not without controversy as the game is slated to be in Lil Wayne's town of New Orleans, and many believed that he should have been a headliner as a result.

Despite the alleged bad blood between them, Wayne has since resolved any issues with Lamar and shared that he "wished him all the best," according to an interview he did with Skip Bayless.

Wayne also responded to Lamar allegedly calling him out on GNX, when he rapped, "Used to bump 'Tha Carter III,' I held my Rollie chain proud / Irony, I think my hard work let Lil Wayne down."

This led Wayne to respond with: "That was my first time hearing it. I think he's a fan like I'm a fan of his music. I think he saw what everyone else saw - how much it meant to me. He didn't let me down."

Tags

Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Lil Wayne