Drake and 21 Savage’s Album Her Loss Is a Hit – and a Lawsuit

Adrina Montoya, Author

Drake and 21 Savage’s new collaborative album Her Loss had the biggest first-week numbers for a hip-hop album in 2022, according to Variety, climbing to No.1 on the Billboard 200 chart. At the same time, the magazine Vogue took action against the promotion of the album.

Famous Canadian rapper, singer, and actor Drake now holds the third most No.1 albums on the Billboard 200 chart with 12 No.1 albums following the June release of Honestly Nevermind. Just ahead of him are The Beatles with 19 number one albums, and Jay-Z with 14. Previously, Drake was tied with Bruce Springsteen, Barbra Streisand, and Taylor Swift, according to Billboard charts.

Her Loss reached 514 million on-demand official streams across its 16 songs and sold 411,000 first-week units, tallying not only the largest streaming week for any R&B/Hip-Hop album in 2022, but also the largest in this category since Drake’s own Certified Lover Boy, which also debuted at No.1 in September of last year.

Following the promotion of Her Loss, a lawsuit was filed Nov. 7 by media company Condé Nast, which owns Vogue, over the fake magazine cover used to promote their new album.

The promotion included a photoshopped black and white collage of Drake and 21 Savage on the iconic cover of Vogue. Drake then posted the magazine cover to his Instagram on Oct. 30, with the caption, “Me and my brother on newsstands tomorrow!! Thanks @voguemagazine and Anna Wintour for the love and support on this historic moment. Her Loss Nov 4th.”

Legal documents further emphasize Vogue and Wintour had no involvement in the promotion or involvement of Her Loss and did not endorse it. Vogue went on to state that the counterfeit magazine cover confused the public and media into thinking the two rappers would be Vogue’s new cover stars. 

Vogue sought that the fake magazine cover be removed from the rapper’s social media and websites. The post was taken off of Drake’s Instagram on Nov. 9. 

Condé Nast seeks $4 million in damages, or triple any profits from the album and fake Vogue issues.

According to CBS Los Angeles, the trial is set to start Nov. 28.