Drake's Scorpion Hits 400 Weeks
Drake's album 'Scorpion' has hit 400 weeks on the Billboard 200, making it the 10th longest-charting rap album in history. Meanwhile, a probe claims Drake wins big on Stake slots twice as often as others based on analysis of 1,500 hours of footage.
Released on June 29, 2018, *Scorpion* was a 25-track double album that immediately broke records. In its first 24 hours, it shattered one-day streaming records on both Apple Music with over 170 million streams and Spotify with over 132 million. The album became the first to surpass one billion streams in a single week. The album's massive streaming numbers translated to a dominant chart debut. *Scorpion* landed at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 732,000 album-equivalent units, marking the biggest opening week for any album in 2018 at the time. This gave Drake his eighth consecutive No. 1 album in the U.S. *Scorpion*'s longevity is part of a larger pattern for Drake, who has multiple albums with extended runs on the Billboard 200. His 2011 album, *Take Care*, and 2013's *Nothing Was the Same* have also spent hundreds of weeks on the chart. This consistent presence places him in the company of other hip-hop mainstays like Eminem and Kendrick Lamar for chart endurance. The controversy surrounding Drake's gambling on Stake.com intensified following a recent *Bloomberg Businessweek* investigation. The probe, which analyzed 1,500 hours of livestreams, alleged that Drake wins large payouts on slot games owned by Stake's parent company, Easygo, at a rate four times higher than the average player. Stake has refuted the investigation's findings, calling them "categorically incorrect" and stating that the analysis ignores how game mathematics work. The company maintains that all players have the same odds regardless of sponsorship status. This report comes as Drake, along with streamer Adin Ross and Stake, faces a class-action lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges their gambling livestreams misrepresent the risks and glamorize an addictive product. There are also separate allegations in a civil case that Drake and Ross used Stake to artificially inflate music streaming numbers, a claim Stake has dismissed as "nonsense." Drake's lucrative partnership with Stake is reportedly valued at $100 million annually. The deal involves him hosting live-streamed gambling sessions, often featuring massive bets placed with cryptocurrency and prize giveaways to viewers.
