Drake
Drake celebrates his 30th birthday on 24 October 2016 Reuters/Mark Blinch

Drake will be pulling his best Hotline Bling dance moves today (24 October) as he celebrates his 30th birthday. The Canadian rapper has become arguably the most influential hip hop artist to have emerged over the past five years while his place in pop culture in general is firmly cemented.

The One Dance hitmaker's ability to transcend hip hop, race and gender as an artist has earned him fans from all corners of the globe. Whether he is delivering slick wordplay on 16 bars in a rap verse or singing romantically about his love for Rihanna, there is at least one side to Drake that appeals to all music fans.

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Over the past year, Drake's superstardom has soared to meteoric heights as he continues to break records and garner critical acclaim on his Summer Sixteen tour in the US.

As Drake marks his big 3-0, IBTimes UK delves into the big numbers that make up the career of one of the biggest musicians on the planet.

Drake's 2016 in numbers

3: Times Drake's fourth album Views was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association Of America following the LP's release in April.

20: Minutes it took for Drake's tour tickets to sell out in the UK. The rapper will launch his The Boy Meets World Tour in Amsterdam on 18 January before performing an epic eight-night residency at London's O2 Arena.

$38.5m: Drake's estimated income in 2016. According to Forbes' hip hop cash kings list, the rapper has accumulated the most record sales in music aside from British singer Adele. The bulk of Drake's earnings are believed to stem from his string of live shows and endorsement deals with Apple Music, soft drink company Sprite and sportswear brand Nike.

Drake tour
Drake has become one of the most successful musicians on the planet Mike Windle/Getty/iHeartMedia

765 million: YouTube views Work, his latest collaboration with rumoured girlfriend Rihanna, has notched up since debuting in February. Interest in whether the musical pair were dating again no doubt contributed to the boost in views.

880 million: Streams Drake's chart-topping hit One Dance has amassed on Spotify, making it the most-played song in the music service's history. The song also spent a whopping 15 weeks at number one in the UK, making it the third longest-running chart-topper, tied with Wet Wet Wet's Love Is All Around and behind Bryan Adams' (Everything I Do) I Do It For You at 16 weeks.

1bn: Drake's viral music video for Hotline Bling has almost reached the billion mark in views on YouTube. The clip, which features Drake's dodgy dance moves, currently has more than 983 million plays and counting. Drake also broke an Apple Music streaming record with Views, which is the first album to garner one billion plays on the service.

Watch Drake and Rihanna's Work music video:

Drake