Sir Ringo Starr was surprised that The Beatles’ streaming figures are nowhere near Drake’s.
The iconic Liverpool band’s drummer opened up about how proud he is of the legacy of the ‘Let it Be’ hitmakers in a new interview about the Disney+ docuseries ‘The Beatles: Get Back’.
And the 81-year-old sticksman admitted he thought his band was doing pretty well with around “five billion” combined streams in 2020 – but then he saw that the ‘God’s Plan’ rapper had substantially more than them.
The 35-year-old hip-hop megastar recently made history as the first artist to be streamed over 50 billion times.
Ringo said: “I’m so proud of the music we [The Beatles] made, I love the other three guys, but every generation has a listen to us.
“As soon as they become teenagers if they’re into music they have a listen to us. So every generation has their Beatles moments. That’s how we carry on.
“I used to think we were doing really well because we sold and we streamed I think it was like five billion last year. Five billion streams. Get off. Then I look at Drake and he does that a day.”
Ringo reunited with former bandmate Sir Paul McCartney, 79, on a cover of the ‘Eleanor Rigby’ group’s late frontman John Lennon’s ‘Grow Old with Me’, which Macca sings and plays bass on. It featured on Ringo’s 2019 studio album, ‘What’s My Name’.
And the music legend hinted he’s always open to collaborating with his fellow Beatle.
Speaking on Jason Peverett’s The Peverett Phile blog, he said: “When he comes over, and I’m doing tracks I’ll say I’ve got this track, I’d love you to play bass and he’d say, ‘I’m coming into LA’, and he’ll come over and play bass and he is the most melodic.”
On missing John and late guitarist George Harrison dearly, he added: “John was the most incredible guitar rhythm, sometimes got too crazy with it and lost the spot but incredible.
And George, most of George’s solos are part of that record. If you just hear the intro, oh, it’s that one. So we all just gave our best. That’s all we can do. That was just like a fact. But I miss the other two, I loved them and I loved Paul.”