Drake nominated for 13 American Music Awards

Black Jewish rapper breaks Michael Jackson’s 1984 record after 1.4 million sales of ‘Views’ and 865 million song plays

By JTA 13 October 2016, 8:41 am

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Rapper Drake performs onstage at the 2016 iHeartRadio Music Festival at T-Mobile Arena on September 23, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Christopher Polk/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)

Drake was nominated for 13 American Music Awards, breaking the record of 11 set by Michael Jackson in 1984.

Among the nominations for the Jewish and African-American rapper are Artist of the Year, Favorite Male Artist and Favorite Album for his 2016 album “Views.” The list of nominees was announced Monday.

In comparison, Adele is up for five awards and Beyonce for four.

“Views,” which was released in April, stayed atop the Billboard 200 chart for 13 consecutive weeks. As of late August, the album had sold nearly 1.4 million copies. As of Tuesday, its leading single, “One Dance,” has been played close to 865 million times on the Spotify streaming service.

Unlike the Grammy Awards, the American Music Awards are determined by factors such as record sales, radio airplay, activity on social networks and public votes.

Drake, 29, born Aubrey Graham in Toronto to a black father and white Jewish mother, attended a Jewish day school and still occasionally notes Jewish holidays on social media. He discussed his mixed heritage in a bar mitzvah sketch while hosting “Saturday Night Live” in 2014.