Drake & Big Sean: A Major Hit In Big League Baseball

Credit: Billboard Magazine

 Credit: Billboard Magazine


Over the years, Toronto rapper Drake has cultivated a presence in the sports world that is proving to be a great business strategy. Drake is the ambassador for the NBA’s Toronto Raptors and often appears courtside at home and away games. He even collaborated with The Raptors to redesign the team’s logo through his OVO clothing line in a special partnership with Mitchell & Ness.
Drake has even been active with the NHL. In 2012, he was the guest performer during the league’s All-Star game in Ottawa. According to new data released by Billboard, Drake’s music, has taken over Major League Baseball too. The magazine analyzed walk up songs provided by the MLB, and Drake was the most common artist.
Drake appears 17 separate times as the lead artist, and another 13 times as a featured act. His two songs “6God” and “Energy,” are the two most popular songs used by players in the league. Jay-Z (11 occurrences) and Big Sean (10 occurrences) also dominated the players’ choice of music, enough to land them both in the Top 5.
AC/DC was #2 (14 occurrences) while Jason Aldean (13 occurrences) grabbed the number #3 spot. The most popular song to use amongst players across the entire league went to Drake and Big Sean’s cut “Blessings,” Sean’s #1 album Dark Sky Paradise.
The walk up music translates to valuable exposure for the artists who are selected by players, especially superstars like Mike Trout, who uses Drake’s “Started From The Bottom” as his walk up music and Giancarlo Stanton, who gets inspired by the rapper’s song “Lord Knows.”
There are 30 Major League teams and 30 stadiums. Each team plays 162 games per season, at stadiums that have average attendances ranging from almost 50,000 (Los Angeles) down to about 15,000 (Tampa Bay). Over 10 million people will be exposed to the music between just the Top 5 markets, which are Los Angeles (Dodgers), San Francisco, Saint Louis and Los Angeles (Angels).