The Weeknd and Drake battle for Spotify and Billboard Hot 100 chart records

All is fair in music and war for close friends The Weeknd and Drake. In a surprise victory, The Weeknd has gained the upper-hand against his Canadian rival after topping Spotify's list of most streams for the month of November.

Data released by the music service reveals that The Weeknd, 26, enjoyed almost 37.5 million streams of his entire music catalogue last month compared to Drake's 36 million. It is the first time since May that One Dance rapper Drake has not amassed the most streams each month. Incredibly, The Weeknd's latest album Starboy has been streamed by nearly a third of Spotify's subscribers since its release on 25 November.

Still, Drake can rest assured as the rapper was just crowned king of Spotify as the most streamed artist in the platform's history. Thanks to a boost after the release of his fourth album Views in April, the Grammy-winner has notched up 4.7 billion streams of his whole catalogue.

The Weeknd, real name Abel Tesfaye, has certainly hit the ground running with his third album Starboy. The LP debuted straight in at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart after selling 348,000 in its first week, but the really impressive feat is that every single song from the 18-track album has entered the Billboard Hot 100 countdown. These include the lead single Starboy which sits at number two, Party Monster at number 16 and I Feel It Coming featuring Daft Punk at number 22.

Adding another record to The Weeknd's growing list, his Hot 100 achievement is the second best total for simultaneous hits after Drake landed 20 songs on the chart in May 2016. The Starboy album is now the third biggest release of 2016 in the US following Beyonce's Lemonade and Drake's Views.

The Weeknd rose to prominence in 2012 as a protege of Drake and the rapper's OVO record label. The R'n'B crooner lent his vocals to many of Drake's earlier songs with collaborations including Crew Love, The Zone and Live For.

The Can't Feel My Face singer still holds Drake with high regard and once described the rapper as his "closest friend in the industry". In an interview with Rolling Stone in 2015, The Weeknd also said of his mentor: "I will always be thankful – if it wasn't for the light he shined on me, who knows where I'd be. And everything happens for a reason."

Stream The Weeknd's Starboy on Spotify: