All of Drake’s Albums Ranked From Worst to Best: Critics’ Picks

At least he kept it real with the title. Room For Improvement was Drake’s initial crack at rapping, serving as his debut mixtape. The project, crafted at just 19 years old, is probably something Drizzy wouldn’t care to brag about today. His flow was a bit rudimentary and packaged somewhat like one of his early rap influences, Joe Budden.

Though his rap identity shuffled between backpack lyricist and punchline slinger, Drake shined when he could deliver quick, springy verses. Tony Yayo’s “Pimpin’” received a nice facelift, while Lupe Fiasco’s “Kick Push” offered a glimpse into what a future collaboration between the two could’ve sounded like. For a tenacious youngster, Drake’s opening night was a respectable 12 points and 6 assists. — CARL LAMARRE

“Shake up the world, that’s what I’m about to do,” rapped a wide-eyed Drake on Comeback Season’s “The Presentation.” Billed as his sophomore mixtape, the twenty-something MC slowly began finding his stride as an emerging polymath. His “Wheelchair Jimmy” moniker from Degrassi took a back seat to his Heartbreak Drake persona, as he evolved into an adept wordsmith with undeniable songwriting potential.

With shades of Little Brother imbued throughout the project — especially on the 9th Wonder-produced “Think Good Thoughts” — subtle hints of Drake’s final form started to gleam through. The choppy, melodic vocals on “Bitch Is Crazy” and “Man of the Year” alongside his inevitable brother-in-arms, Lil Wayne, served as snapshots of Drake’s impending future. Despite a few blunders — “Give Ya” would’ve made a stronger single than “Replacement Girl” — Comeback Season became the ideal precursor to his eventual classic, So Far Gone. — C.L.

HABIBTI was an unexpected gift from Drake, as we were all just preparing for ICEMAN and all of the heads he’d take off with his lethal bars. Nonetheless, the Certified Lover Boy knew he still needed to feed his female fanbase and those who enjoy R&B Drizzy.

HABIBTI, his first ever solo R&B project, is 11 songs loaded with some of his highest vocal performances and well-structured records ever. “Classic” is aptly named, and frustratingly brilliant due to the fact he only drops off a short verse and chorus before another vocalist takes over. “Fortworth” with PARTYNEXTDOOR features the yearning that OG Drake fans have missed from his recent content, with an emotive, instantly catchy chorus telling a woman the time they spent together meant the world to him.

“Gen 5,” “Slap The City” with Qendresa, and “White Bone” also recall the greatness of tracks like “Drew A Picasso,” “F—king Fans” and “Finesse.” In the end, once people get past the raps, HABIBTI could end up in the conversation for being the best of the three projects he released this past weekend. — ARMON SADLER

Drake’s 2023 LP For All the Dogs found him torn between being hurt over certain past lovers and completely done with others. His stance on this album has been perceived as adversarial toward women and often miscast as “incel behavior.”

However, in truth, Drake simply exposed how men genuinely respond to matters of the heart. There’s the exhaustion of “Tried Our Best,” the confrontational disposition of “Drew a Picasso,” the confusion of “Polar Opposites,” and the pettiness of “Fear of Heights.” It is his most honest expression of emotions scattered between hits such as “First Person Shooter,” “Rich Baby Daddy,” and “Virginia Beach.”

Unfortunately, this was not the content people preferred or were used to from the 6 God. And with Dogs being his fifth project in four years, dropping at the peak of “Drake fatigue” conversations, it did not land with the masses as well as his previous efforts. — A.S.

While the world was holed up at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Drake brought the pandemic playlist to your doorstep with Dark Lane Demo Tapes. It’s a collection of older songs, ones that lived on SoundCloud/YouTube, internet leaks and some new vibes.

Without the pressures of an album, this is Drizzy the mad scientist, testing out different sounds that were bubbling at the turn of the decade. He reminds you of the dance you were hitting in the mirror with “Toosie Slide” and his British accent on the militant “War,” but shines alongside Playboi Carti on the anticipated OVO-Opium link-up “Pain 1993” and sits back and reflects on the world with a page out of the Jay-Z playbook for “When to Say When.” Intentionally lacking direction and cohesion leads to DLDT ultimately getting overlooked, but in the grand scheme it was an altruistic gesture. — M.S.

People wanted Drake to make an R&B album for a while, and a collaborative project with PARTYNEXTDOOR felt long overdue. Nonetheless, $ome $exy $ongs 4 U couldn’t have landed at a better time in their careers. It boasted the Billboard Hot 100 top two hit “NOKIA,” fan-favorite “SOMEBODY LOVES ME,” and alternative jam “DIE TRYING.”

Of course, Drizzy couldn’t fully stay away from rap, reminding strippers how much the club needs him with “GIMME A HUG” and celebrating Young Thug’s freedom on “BRIAN STEEL.” It may be long in the tooth, a common critique of most of his catalog, but this joint effort made the ladies happy and put the stamp on him and PND being a dynamic duo. — A.S.

After slicing and dicing his adversaries on ICEMAN and serenading his everyday sweethearts on HABIBTI, Drake squeezed out a hearty helping of bops on MAID OF HONOUR. In hopes of securing a triple-double, Drizzy revives his Honestly, Nevermind spirit and takes daring swings at redemption in the house arena.

“Hoe Phase” is a playful opener, while “Cheetah Print” offers a 2026 alternative to the Electric Slide, guided by none other than Sexyy Red. “Stuck” is a sticky gem where Drizzy delivers his best New Edition impression, while “Outside Tweaking” emerges as one of the project’s brightest highlights, courtesy of Stunna Sandy’s scene-stealing verse. — C.L.

Drake’s 2018 is eerily comparable to LeBron’s. In Year 15, LBJ delivered a Herculean effort, muscling his way to his eighth consecutive Finals appearance with a pedestrian Cavaliers team. Despite losing to the Warriors, Bron’s 365 was mythical, as he played arguably the best basketball of his career.

The same could be argued for Drizzy, who lapped the competition three times over, earning a trio of Hot 100 chart-toppers with “Nice for What,” “In My Feelings” and “God’s Plan.” Though he was outclassed in his rap battle with Pusha T, Drake’s Scorpion was still a double-feature worth the price of admission.

Sure, in retrospect, the ambitious 25-track effort had some fat to trim. Still, tracks like “Jaded,” “After Dark” and “Nonstop,” along with Drake’s blockbuster singles, were enough to overshadow both his lyrical defeat and the album’s overcooked execution. — C.L.

From its pregnant emoji artwork to the regrettable — but still Hot 100-topping — “Way 2 Sexy” (with Future & Young Thug), music lovers greeted Certified Lover Boy with its fair share of flak in late 2021. Nonetheless, it’s largely aged quite well. 

“F—king Fans” is a late-career highlight, offering us the kind of unflinching honesty and self-reflection that makes Drake such an arresting writer, and all-star collaborations like “Fair Trade” (with Travis Scott) and “Knife Talk” (with 21 Savage & Project Pat) remarkably don’t crumble under the pressure of the union of such heavyweights. 

From the tongue-in-cheek braggadocio of “Papi’s Home” to the unfairly overlooked “7AM on Bridle Path,” CLB certainly deserves its flowers. One might even say it’s still Drake’s strongest solo studio album of the current decade. — KYLE DENIS 

While this 2022 collaborative album doesn’t strike quite the same balance as Drizzy and Future’s 2015 What a Time to Be Alive mixtape, Her Loss remains one of Drake’s stronger 2020s offerings. Sure, a few moments fell flat on arrival — that thinly-veiled dig at Megan Thee Stallion on “Circo Loco,” for one — but Her Loss packed some heat. “Middle of the Ocean” finds Drake getting strikingly introspective over an O’Jays sample, “Jumbotron S—t Poppin” and “BackOutsideBoyz” are still dependable club anthems, and “Spin Bout U” is the perfect R&B-infused ode to the ladies for an era that found rap’s favorite Canadian moving further into the clutches of misogynistic incel culture. 

Of course, 21 Savage is stellar supporting player, adding nicely to tracks like “P—y & Millions” and delivering a commendable timestamp track of his own in “3AM on Glenwood.” — K.D.

Less than a year after delivering Views, Drake returned with More Life, which he presented as a playlist of songs, easing the pressure that comes with every LP. Nearly a decade later, it’s stood the test of time as one of Drake’s most thorough offerings, even at a robust 22 songs. There’s something for just about every Drizzy fan on there in his trip around the globe.

“Passionfruit” combines R&B and dancehall for an all-timer in the 6 God’s catalog, while he heads across the pond to the menacing world of grime on tracks like “KMT” and leans into his fling with Jennifer Lopez while flipping “If You Had My Love” for the woozy “Teenage Fever.” He gets surgical on the Snoh Aalegra-sampling “Do Not Disturb,” which remains as potent of a closer from Drake as we’ve seen in his career. For those who weren’t initially in on Views, More Life is what restored faith and refilled the OVO bandwagon. — M.S.

When the stakes are at their highest, the greats have a penchant for coming through. Drake heard it all from detractors as he bore the scars of his battle with Kendrick Lamar and came to grips with peers switching sides on him. 

ICEMAN had no shortage of smoke, as the OVO rapper lined up several headshots on the likes of DJ Khaled with his most rap-heavy solo LP since IYRTITL. “Make Them Pay” and “Make Them Remember” find Drizzy setting the record straight after critics discarded him from the top of rap’s food chain and no longer viewed him as invincible following a decade-plus run of sheer dominance.

The 6 God and Future squashed their feud to reunite on “Ran to Atlanta,” while Drake invaded the West Coast for the Mac Dre-interpolating “2 Hard 4 the Radio.” Previous albums boasted chart hits but lacked quality depth, and he bucks that trend in a major way with his most thorough project in nearly a decade. When the dust settles and there’s enough time and distance to properly analyze the ICEMAN era, let the record show that Drake delivered with his back against the wall. — M.S.

When Drake drops an album, it turns into a full-on warzone. Everybody suddenly has opinions, rankings, think pieces, and debates. You either “Keep the Family Close” or ask “U With Me?” because the discourse starts immediately.

When Views dropped on April 29, 2016, it debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and landed an unprecedented 20 tracks on the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously, the most any artist had ever charted at one time back then. A lot of critics argued the album was too long or had a bloated tracklist, but when every single track from the album lands as the best songs to ever be played that week across the country, I’m not sure you can agree.

Over time Views has become one of Drake’s biggest fan-favorite projects, with many people now calling it his best album, not me though. I even remember referencing Views on my high school graduation cap design, which is honestly crazy to think about now. Writing this just unlocked that memory for me, and it says a lot about how deeply this album was embedded into the culture at the time. — CHRISTOPHER CLAXTON

This is the album that changed everything. To me, Take Care is still Drake’s greatest album and honestly one of my favorite albums of all time.

Released on November 15, 2011, Drake’s second studio album was bigger than just a rap album. It was a 19-track Grammy-winning project that blended rap, R&B and ambient production. In this moment, Drake shifted the sound of an entire generation.

Eight songs from the project’s deluxe edition landed on the Billboard Hot 100: “Headlines,” “Marvins Room,” “Make Me Proud,” “Take Care,” “The Motto,” “Crew Love,” “HYFR” and “Lord Knows.” That’s 40% of the album charting on the Hot 100. How many artists did that back then, especially before the streaming era?

Take Care debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, became Drake’s first No. 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and is now certified 8x platinum. Take Care also made history by becoming one of the longest-charting rap albums ever on the Billboard 200, spending over 650 weeks on the chart.

But as we all know numbers only tell part of the story. “Marvins Room” changed a generation. A song about a messy drunk dial became the soundtrack for people stuck in complicated relationships. Drake pushed what emotional honesty could mean in mainstream music.

This is the album that so many Drake fans — honestly, so many music fans in general — always come back to. It’s timeless. — C.C.

So far Gone was released on February 13, 2009, and ended up becoming one of the most important projects of Drake’s entire career. The mixtape created such a massive buzz that it sparked a bidding war among labels trying to sign him, with his mentor Lil Wayne eventually helping bring him to Young Money.

The project was later reworked into an EP and officially released on September 15, 2009, debuting at No. 6 on the Billboard 200.

So Far Gone produced some of Drake’s earliest hit, “Successful” featuring Trey Songz and Lil Wayne spent 18 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at No. 17, while “Best I Ever Had” became one of his breakout records, peaking at No. 2 and spending 24 weeks on the chart. “I’m Going In” also reached the Hot 100, peaking at No. 40 and spending 17 weeks on the chart.

Looking back, So Far Gone was the foundation for the Drake we love and love to hate today. This was the project that more than likely introduced you to Drake. He stood out for the way he blended singing and rapping together in a way mainstream rap hadn’t seen yet, creating a completely new sound, which has become his signature throughout his decorated career. — C.C.

I remember when this dropped. I was at my former gig, and the office stopped in its tracks when it popped up on Soundcloud. He was at the height of his powers having released arguably his best album Nothing Was the Same a couple years prior, so he was feeling himself and it was reflected on this project.

This is also where he really started leaning towards his Toronto background with anthems like “Energy” and “Know Yourself,” and had damn near everybody shouting out “Runnin’ through the 6 with my woes” like they were from Toronto.

Considered a classic, it’s his most cohesive behind Nothing Was the Same and his most recent ICEMAN. Like the latter, this is one of the more darker projects in his discography. I always appreciated the freeness to it. He wasn’t trying to chase a hit; he was just making music. — A.S.

Many will tell you that Take Care is both the quintessential Drake album or the best album of his catalog. They are wrong. 2013’s Nothing Was The Same finds the Toronto superstar firmly planting his flag in the conversation of the best artist in the game, if not of all time. The best part for many naysayers is that he executes his vision in one of the shortest runtimes of his career, getting in and out in under an hour on the standard edition.

Across the project, Drake goes toe-to-toe with Jay-Z on their best collaboration, “Pound Cake / Paris Morton Music 2,” mythologizes his story with the rise-and-grind anthem “Started From the Bottom,” crystallizes his mettle for pensive storytelling on “From Time” and “Too Much,” and churns out one of his best pop songs ever in “Hold On, We’re Going Home.” Nothing Was the Same also hosts some of the best deep cuts and deluxe bonus tracks of his career. Simply put, a flawless performance. — A.S.