Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ Spotify streams shoot up 430% after Super Bowl show

Pulitzer winner’s music saw overall jump of 175% streams after performance

Following his highly anticipated performance at the Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday, streams of Kendrick Lamar's 2024 hit diss track "Not Like Us" surged by 430 percent on Spotify within three hours. While "Not Like Us" experienced the most significant increase in streams, the other nine songs he performed during the show also saw considerable spikes, according to data released on Monday morning. The multiple Grammy winner headlined the 59th Super Bowl with a medley of his popular songs, including "Not Like Us," which is aimed at his Canadian rival, Drake. The song was released last year as part of a musical conflict that saw both Lamar and Drake release multiple tracks criticizing each other. Lamar's 2017 song "Humble" experienced a 300 percent increase, while "Man at the Garden" from GNX saw a 260 percent rise in streams. "All the Stars" from the Black Panther soundtrack increased by 290 percent. Overall, Lamar's music saw a 175 percent surge in streams following his performance. R&B artist SZA, who was featured on the "All the Stars" track and joined Lamar for the halftime show, saw her streams increase by 80 percent in the US.

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Kendrick Lamar during the Super Bowl halftime show (AP)

Fans were eager to see if Lamar would perform "Not Like Us," which includes harsh lyrics about Drake, including allegations regarding his interactions with younger women. Lamar, 37, censored himself regarding the controversial line calling the “One Dance” singer a "certified pedophile," which had previously led Drake to sue Lamar's record label, as well as his own, Universal Music Group, the previous month. He alluded to the lawsuit while teasing the track's intro throughout his set, jokingly saying: “I want to perform their favourite song, but you know they love to sue.” Universal refuted Drake's allegations of defamation, telling The Independent in a statement: “Not only are these claims untrue, but the notion that we would seek to harm the reputation of any artist – let alone Drake – is illogical.” In a review for The Independent, critic Mark Beaumont wrote that Lamar's electrifying set would "undoubtedly go down as one of the most important half-time shows in the history of the event, if not the most significant mass-televised rap performance of all time”. “That troupes of Black dancers in red, white and blue spew out of Lamar’s GNX like a cool retro clown car and form the US flag for G-funk opener ‘Squabble Up’ is the most forthright finger in Trump’s face from a proud and unbroken Black America,” he wrote. “But that the show then throws these citizens into a series of America-coloured Squid Games in light-up arenas of cubes and crosses – to the brutal yet haunting ‘DNA’, a track about the multitudes contained within Lamar and his heritage – is a metaphor for the exploitation and manipulation to come, which will likely have bounced straight off Trump’s impervious skull.” Lamar’s performance was watched by a host of celebrity guests, including Sir Paul McCartney, Bradley Cooper, and Taylor Swift, who was there to support her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, as his team suffered a defeat against the Philadelphia Eagles.