"God's Plan" is a song recorded by Canadian rapper

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

, released on January 19, 2018, through

Young Money Young Money Entertainment is an American record label founded by rapper Lil Wayne. Young Money's president is Lil Wayne's lifelong friend and fellow rapper Mack Maine. The label was an imprint of Cash Money Records and is distributed by Republi ...

and Cash Money. The song was written by Drake, Brock Korsan, and producers

Cardo A cardo (plural ''cardines'') was a north–south street in Ancient Roman cities and military camps as an integral component of city planning. The cardo maximus, or most often the ''cardo'', was the main or central north–south-oriented street ...

, Yung Exclusive,

Boi-1da Matthew Jehu Samuels (born October 12, 1986), known professionally as Boi-1da ( , a play on "boy wonder"), is a Jamaican-Canadian Record production, record producer and songwriter based in Toronto, Ontario. The Toronto raised producer has work ...

and

Noah "40" Shebib Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5– ...

. It acts as a single from his second EP, ''

Scary Hours ''Scary Hours'' is the second extended play recorded by Canadian rapper Drake. It was first released on January 19, 2018 by Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records and Republic Records. It contains the single "God's Plan", which also appea ...

'' (2018), and the

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

from his fifth studio album, ''

Scorpion Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...

'' (2018). Musically, it has been described as pop,

pop-rap Pop rap (also known as pop hip-hop, hip pop, melodic hip-hop or melodic rap) is a genre of music fusing the rhythm-based lyricism of hip hop music with pop music's preference for melodious vocals and catchy tunes. This genre gained mainstrea ...

, and

trap A trap is a mechanical device used to capture or restrain an animal for purposes such as hunting, pest control, or ecological research. Trap or TRAP may also refer to: Art and entertainment Films and television * ''Trap'' (2015 film), Fil ...

, with lyrics addressing Drake's fame and fate. "God's Plan" received lukewarm reviews from music critics, who called it a typical Drake song. Commercially the song became the 29th song in history to debut at number one on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, making it Drake's fourth chart-topper in that country, and second as a lead artist. The single topped the charts in fourteen countries, including the UK and Canada and reached the top ten in nine others. The song broke first-day streaming records on both

Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple M ...

and

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

, and was the most streamed song of the year on both services. An accompanying music video for the song was directed by

Karena Evans Karena Evans (born December 17, 1995) is a Canadian director and actress. She garnered recognition for directing the music videos for Drake's 2018 ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart-topping singles, "God's Plan", "Nice for What", and "In My Feelings". ...

and uploaded onto Drake's official

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel on February 16, 2018. In the video, Drake is giving away nearly one million US dollars to people and institutions in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. It received five nominations at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards, including for Video of the Year and three nominations at the

61st Grammy Awards The 61st Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on February 10, 2019, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Singer-songwriter Alicia Keys hosted. During her opening monologue, Keys brought out Lady Gaga, Jada Pinkett Smith, Jennifer Lopez, and fo ...

for

Record of the Year The Grammy Award for Record of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without reg ...

, Song of the Year, and

Best Rap Song The Grammy Award for Best Rap Song is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality songs in the rap music genre. Honors in several ...

, winning the latter.

Background and composition

The song creation started in September 2017 after Cardo sent Drake the instrumental. The song, originally titled "Grace of God", was chosen from a series of beats sent to Drake in September. Drake apparently called up Cardo and said "We got one" before the production of the record itself began fully. "God's Plan" was written by Aubrey Graham, Ronald LaTour, Daveon Jackson, Matthew Samuels, and Noah Shebib and produced by Cardo, Yung Exclusive, and Boi-1da. The original instrumental for "God's Plan" was sent to Drake in September 2017 by Cardo. Cardo created the instrumental with

FL Studio FL Studio (previously known as FruityLoops before 2003) is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed by the Belgian company Image-Line. FL Studio features a graphical user interface with a pattern-based music sequencer. The program is avail ...

and some VSTs. Boi-1da's addition to the song came when Drake gave him "God's Plan" half finished, Drake requested the song to have a more "bouncy vibe" and Boi-1da added more drums to the production. Musically the song has been described as a pop,

and

song composed in

common time The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

( time) with a length of three minutes eighteen seconds and written in the key of

E minor E minor is a minor scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative major is G major and its parallel major is E major. The E natural minor scale is: : Changes needed ...

with a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

of 154.4 (or 77.2) beats per minute and a common

chord progression In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from the common practice ...

of Am–Bm. Following the release of his fourth studio album ''

Views A view is a sight or prospect or the ability to see or be seen from a particular place. View, views or Views may also refer to: Common meanings * View (Buddhism), a charged interpretation of experience which intensely shapes and affects thou ...

'' (2016) and his playlist ''

More Life ''More Life'' is a commercial mixtape by Canadian rapper and singer Drake. Described and marketed as a playlist, some publications have referred to it as a mixtape. It was released on March 18, 2017, through Republic Records and distributed by Cas ...

'' (2017), Drake did not release any music for eight months until the EP ''

'' on January 19, 2018, following multiple leaks, like for "Pistols". "God's Plan", was first teased on January 1, 2018, at a New York New Year's Eve Party, and originally featured American rapper

Trippie Redd Michael Lamar White II (born June 18, 1999), known professionally as Trippie Redd, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is one of the most prominent members of the SoundCloud rap scene, which gained mainstream acclaim in the late ...

. Redd had been talking about the collaboration since October 2017.

Release and reception

"God's Plan" was released alongside "

Diplomatic Immunity Diplomatic immunity is a principle of international law by which certain foreign government officials are recognized as having legal immunity from the jurisdiction of another country.

" as a part of the ''

'' EP and made available for digital download and streaming on January 19, 2018, by

Young Money Entertainment Young Money Entertainment is an American record label founded by rapper Lil Wayne. Young Money's president is Lil Wayne's lifelong friend and fellow rapper Mack Maine. The label was an imprint of Cash Money Records and is distributed by Republi ...

and

Cash Money Records Cash Money Records is an American record label founded in 1991 by brothers Ronald "Slim" Williams and Bryan "Birdman" Williams. Distributed by Republic, formerly known as Universal Republic, the label has been home to a roster of mostly hip h ...

. It then also became the lead single for his fifth studio album, Scorpion (2018). The song launched with the largest on-demand streaming count in history, breaking Apple's first-day streaming record upon release with 14 million streams and breaking Spotify's single-day streaming record with 4.3 million plays in twenty four hours. The song was streamed 82.4 million times in its first week. Talking about the song, Noisey said;

"This is a good song that I've heard Drake do about 600 different versions of" before going on to say "I want to hear something different from Drake for a change, and this is definitely not what I would have hoped for."

Pluggedin had mixed views on the track, calling it "schizophrenic in nature as it zigzags back and forth between various topics." Upon release of the music video, where Drake gave away nearly $1 million worth of gifts, a meme began circulating on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

praising daily, random acts of kindness.

Commercial performance

In the United States, "God's Plan" debuted at number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on the chart dated February 3, 2018, becoming Drake's fourth Hot 100 number-one song. It achieved 82.4 million streams and 127,000 downloads in the country, in the week ending January 25. "God's Plan" held steady at number one for its second week on the chart, gaining 83.3 million streams. In the end of February "God's Plan" became the second song in the Hot 100's history to achieve more than 100 million weekly streams. The single topped the Hot 100 for 11 weeks, becoming the 24th song in the history of the chart to do so. It was later unseated on the issue date April 21, 2018 by Drake's follow-up single "

Nice for What "Nice for What" is a song recorded by Canadian rapper Drake from his fifth studio album ''Scorpion'' (2018). It was released by Young Money Entertainment and Cash Money Records as the second single from the album on April 6, 2018, along with its ...

". The song is also the fourth to have spent at least its first eleven weeks on the chart at number one, and the first since "

One Sweet Day "One Sweet Day" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey and vocal group Boyz II Men. The song was released on as the second single from Carey's fifth studio album, ''Daydream'' (1995) by Columbia Records. The artists co- ...

" in 1996. "God's Plan" ultimately spent 26 weeks in the top ten and left the chart after 36 weeks. The single would go on to top the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 Year–End chart. It became the most-streamed song of 2018 in the United States, with 1,565,711,000 on-demand streams (918.87 million audio and 647.84 video). It was also the second best-selling digital song of 2018 with 1,056,000 copies sold, behind Ed Sheeran's " Perfect". In the United Kingdom, "God's Plan" debuted at the top of the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

on January 26, 2018, for the week ending date February 1, 2018 after appearing to be first in the midweek singles chart. Drake had suddenly charted in what was expected to be a close race between

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing hip hop in middle America and is critically acclai ...

and

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

's "

River A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

" and Ramz's "

Barking Barking may refer to: Places * Barking, London, a town in East London, England ** London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, a local government district covering the town of Barking ** Municipal Borough of Barking, a historical local government dist ...

". "God's Plan" became Drake's third UK number one and had achieved 6.5 million streams in its first week and 54,000 sales. Hugh McIntyre of ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' wrote that the song "shockingly debuted at No.1 across the pond, proving Drake to be an artist with unparalleled power." In its second week on the UK Singles Chart, "God's Plan" achieved 60,000 sales with 50,000 coming from streams, retaining its position at number one. "God's Plan" faced competition in its third week as its sales decreased 7% with Rudimental's "These Days" only 5,000 sales behind. Despite this, "God's Plan" was able to once again retain its position as number one and was certified Silver by the BPI. "God's Plan" stayed at number one for nine consecutive weeks in the UK, seven of which kept "

These Days These Days may refer to: Music Albums * ''These Days'' (Bon Jovi album), and the title song (see below) ** These Days Tour, a 1995–1996 tour by Bon Jovi in support of the above album * ''These Days'' (Crystal Gayle album), 1980 * ''These ...

" by

Rudimental Rudimental are a British drum and bass band, signed to Asylum Records, Atlantic Records and Black Butter Records. The band consists of Piers Aggett, Kesi Dryden and Leon "Locksmith" Rolle. They were nominated for a Mercury Prize in 2013, and ...

at number two, until it became subject to accelerated chart ratio (ACR). The single was the second best-performing song on the British single charts, accumulating 1,56 million single-equivalent units. It was the most streamed song of the year, with 147 million.

Music video

An accompanying music video for the track was uploaded onto Drake's official YouTube channel on February 16, 2018. The

-directed music video was filmed by cinematographer Jordan Oram in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

on February 5, 2018. The shooting for the video attracted significant media attention due to Drake donating $175,000 during the filming of the video to random Miami residents. The video depicts Drake in

engaging in acts of charity like

gifts in kind Gifts in kind, also referred to as in-kind donations, is a kind of charitable giving in which, instead of giving money to buy needed goods and services, the goods and services themselves are given. Gifts in kind are distinguished from gifts of ca ...

, cash handouts and money donation through

oversized cheque A cheque, or check (American English; see spelling differences) is a document that orders a bank (or credit union) to pay a specific amount of money from a person's account to the person in whose name the cheque has been issued. The pers ...

s. Parts of the video were filmed at the

Miami Senior High School Miami Senior High School, also known as Miami High School, is a public high school located at 2450 SW 1st Street in Miami, Florida, and operated by Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Founded in 1903, it is one of the oldest high school in Miami- ...

West Flagler West Flagler (formerly West Little Havana) is a neighborhood in Miami, Florida, United States, bisected by Flagler Street. It is roughly located north of the Tamiami Trail (US 41/South Eighth Street) and south of North Seventh Street, between St ...

. The video's opening states that its entire budget of $996,631.90 had been given away. At the campus of

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

, Drake presented Destiny James, a young woman raised by a single mother in

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

, with a $50,000 oversized cheque for tuition fees for a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...

. As of September 2020, the music video has received more than 1.2 billion views and is the 31st most-liked video on YouTube. NFL wide receiver

Antonio Brown Antonio Tavaris Brown Sr. (born July 10, 1988), nicknamed "AB", is an American football wide receiver who is a free agent, and an American rapper. Raised in Liberty City, Miami, Brown attended Miami Norland High School. He played college ...

is shown in the video dancing with Drake.

Awards and nominations

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

"Drake's 'God's Plan' Video Makes Generosity Into Entertainment"
on ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...