By Steven J. Horowitz, William Earl, Ethan Shanfeld
Getty Images It’s been three years since Drake has released a solo album, but he’s far from cooled off. Since releasing 2023’s “For All the Dogs,” Toronto’s finest teamed up with PartyNextDoor for “Some Sexy Songs 4 U”; dropped a massive collection of footage and files, including a handful of new songs; and spent the past few years teasing his new album “Iceman,” dropping on Friday.
The road to “Iceman” was long and — dare we say — slippery, yet Drake has continued to build momentum towards his ninth record. After a contentious battle with Kendrick Lamar, he began to concretely tease “Iceman” last July with the first episode of a livestream series where he debuted tracks like “What Did I Miss?” and “Which One” featuring Central Cee. His latest stunt? Putting the release date for the album in a gigantic block of ice, bringing the focus back to the 6.
With a discography that spans two decades, Drake has amassed so many culture-defining hits that it’s a Herculean task to boil it down to his best. And yet — Variety takes a look at his best 25 songs, in alphabetical order.
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Best I Ever Had
The song that thrust him into the mainstream stratosphere, “Best I Ever Had” is early Drake at his peak powers, proficient in marrying the cadences of rap with sultry R&B melodies. Amid the mixtape craze around the 2010s, he included the Boi-1da-produced “Best I Ever Had” on his breakthrough “So Far Gone” and released it as its first single, accenting his knack for finding unique melodic pockets within complex beats. “Best I Ever Had” felt obvious as a hit at the time, given the groundwork laid in the lead-up to the track, but nearly 20 years later, its palpability is a testament to its longevity. — Horowitz
