Drake's chart-topping new albums prove he's music's most cynical businessman

• Drake dominated the Billboard 200 this week, debuting three new albums in the chart’s top three.
• Drake has long been criticized for his more-is-more strategy, yet he continues to double down.
• The rapper has built a career that no longer requires fan approval or critical acclaim.

What does matter to Drake is that we’re curious or skeptical enough to keep tuning in. Releasing three different albums as a kind of choose-your-own-streaming-adventure is just another way to court as many listeners as possible. In Drake’s world, exasperated reviews and mean tweets are nothing compared to breaking another one of Michael Jackson’s chart records.

Sure, social media may be loaded with podcasters calling Drake’s vocal performance “lazy,” YouTubers mocking the lyrics to “Shabang,” and fellow rappers bemoaning that he “processes things like his frontal lobe [is] made out of jello,” but in order to make those critiques, they all gave Drake more streams. It’s all going according to plan.