Just like every other year, summer was filled with many different album releases from many different artists. However, hip hop artist Drake’s many singles and features, as well as the release of his 23 track album Scorpion, which went platinum on it’s first day, made him by far the most popular artist of the summer and possibly the year.

“In my feelings was my song of the  summer” – Jaelan Vallier (AVID)

With his 5th, and by far most popular studio album to release coming out this year, Drake made some big moves this summer. What came before the album, however, is what most would attribute it’s wild success to. Before the release of Scorpion, Drake had found major success with the releases of three singles from the album. The singles, titled I’m Upset, God’s Plan, and Nice for What, as well as two features with artists Blocboy JB, and Lil Baby, titled “Look Alive” and “Yes Indeed”, respectively, were all certified platinum leading into Scorpion. God’s Plan, which was 8x platinum, seemed to be the highlight of the year for Drake going into the summer, but he wasn’t done at all. Nice for What, and I’m Upset, were both soon after released, Nice for What dethroning God’s Plan from it’s 12 week spot at the top of the billboard 100, and I’m Upset making it to the top 20.

Though there is no doubt that Drake was the most popular, there were many artists who also released music this summer that placed very high on the charts as well. Travis Scott’s  “ASTROWORLD” and Ariana Grande’s “Sweetener” were both very popular despite being released later in the summer. Also, in the earlier part of the summer, on June 1st to be exact, Kanye West released his 7th studio album, simply titled “ye” to the public. The album, though only being 7 songs long, was a huge success due to the controversy surrounding Kanye’s name, with his alleged affiliation with President Donald Trump, as well as outrageous claims such as “slavery is a choice,” everybody wanted to hear what Kanye had to say on the album. Kanye also followed it up with a collaborative album with Kid Cudi, who he has collaborated with many times before throughout his career, titled “KIDS SEE GHOSTS”.  Other artists that released less popular singles and albums include Nicki Minaj, 6ix9ine, Eminem, Juice WRLD, Cardi B, and many others. “Drake was cool, but I liked AstroWorld way better” – Lucas Fuller

A big shock to the world this summer, up and coming artist XXXTentation died on June 18th this summer during a robbery. “X” died only months after the release of his second studio album, “?” which catapulted to the top of the billboard 100 following his death. Though his career was very eventful and sadly also very short-lived, X developed a very strong cult fanbase before his death, and his family received endless support following his passing. His career wasn’t without controversy though He was in and out of jail following his explosion on SoundCloud, and after his music became more popular he pledged to better himself as a man and was living up to that before his eventual death, X’s charges were dropped following his death. XXXTentacion will always be remembered by our generation as an artist whose highly influential music career was cut short, and he will live on through that memory.

Though dominated by Drake, the summer of 2018 was filled to the brim with many different music releases from many different artists, and hopefully will have been a sign of much more great records to come from these artists.