Drake, The Weeknd Dominate Billboard Awards
Drake brought a very special guest with him on stage at the Billboard Music Awards on Sunday as he accepted his Artist of the Decade award: his three-year-old son, Adonis.
Adonis, who was happy to hold his dad’s award, even if he seemed a little overwhelmed by the cheering crowd, kept close to his father as the musician gave his speech and held his hand.
The rapper, 34, was also joined on stage by his mother and father, and his closest friends to celebrate.
“I’m really self-conscious about my music,” Drake shared in his speech. “I rarely celebrate anything, and just for anyone watching this that’s wondering how this happened, that’s really the answer. It’s being so unsure how you’re getting it done, that you just keep going in the hopes of figuring out the formula. Feeling so lucky and blessed that the fear of losing it keeps you up at night.”
“I didn’t write a grandiose speech about how to make it work or what it took, ’cause to be honest, I don’t really understand it myself,” he admitted. “I just know that I’ve spent an incalculable amount of hours trying to analyze all the things I did wrong, but tonight, for once, I’m sure as hell we did something right.”
“I wanna dedicate this award to my friends, to my longtime collaborators … to my beautiful family, and to you,” he said, looking to Adonis and picking him up to kiss him.
The three-year-old burst into tears and left the stage clinging to his father’s leg.
Drake was conferred the prestigious Artist of the Decade award by Billboard to commemorate his achievements. He holds onto the record for most Billboard Music Award wins of all time.
Drake’s chart dominance throughout the 2010s earned him top honours in the overall artist category, beating out Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, Rihanna and Adele in the Top 5.
Drake placed his first song on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2009 and has since logged the most songs ever on the chart, with 232 entrees. He’s also logged a record of 45 Top 10 hits on the Hot 100 and a record of 22 No. 1s on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs chart.
After an early acting career, the Canadian rapper first broke onto the music scene in 2006 with his debut mixtape, Room for Improvement.
However, the start of the new decade is when Drake truly started setting big Billboard marks.
His 2010 debut album, Thank Me Later, opened at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200, and he never looked back.
Drake also holds the records for most career Billboard Music Awards wins, with 28 to date. He was a nominee in seven categories at this year’s show and won Top Streaming Songs artist prior to Sunday’s awards show.
Meanwhile, The Weeknd was on hand to accept the most wins of the night, taking home 10 awards.
At Sunday’s ceremony, the Canadian R&B singer won Top Hot 100 album for After Hours, Top Hot 100 song for Blinding Lights, Top Male Artist, Top Radio Songs Artist, Top R&B Artist, Top R&B Male Artist, Top R&B Album, Top Radio Song and Top R&B Song. His career total now stands at 19 wins.
The star more than doubled his career total of Billboard Music Awards, having previously received nine trophies.
He walked into the show with 16 nominations.
“I wanna take this opportunity to thank you, my parents,” he said. “I am the man I am today because of you. And thank you to my fans, of course. I do not take this for granted.