Interesting...
I agree with other posters that there have always been virtuoso drummers. I think more so in the earlier years of the instrument even than now. Musicality was expected then, I believe, where it is sometimes a welcome surprise now.
I think virtuosos (on any instrument) have incredible command of their instruments, but also have a truly deep understanding of the history of their instrument and of the compositions they perform. How many drummers these days know anything before Neil Peart?
JoJo Mayer has done a wonderful job disseminating information about Moeller technique, but many have embraced it as though it were a "new" revelation. However, if you look at the old footage of the old jazz drummers, they were using Moeller! This lack of awareness of the history of their own instrument is what precludes so many from this categorization (imho). You don't see this with classically trained musicians, and is often the criticism of most drummers by classical musicians.
I think something else is the basic function of our instrument, which is playing time. Traditional virtuosos have a large vocabulary of compositions to showcase their instrumental mastery (versus technique) whereas drummers might have few options beyond Sing, Sing, Sing and Moby Dick, meaning pieces specifically composed to showcase drums.
All this is not to say that drums do not qualify. Of course they do, but I think drummers have to look a little deeper than just great technique. This is only a fraction of becoming a virtuoso. How many drummers perform with attention to dynamics? I don't mean just internal dynamics, but also REAL dynamic shifts within the music? When they play mezzo piano, is it consistently the same section to section, song to song, and performance to performance? I can't say that I see much of this from Lang, Donati, Mayer, etc., as much as I love their playing. Perhaps it is the music that limits their ability to showcase this aspect of their skill, but this is an issue as well.
How many drummers know how to build a song or play for the song? Who can play fluently across a range of styles? How many can demonstrate the range of techniques employed by drummers throughout the history of the instrument? How many understand song form and can read music to the point where they can nail a chart the first time they sit down to perform it? I think reading counts. It does for any other instrument. What about time? Who has demonstrated consistently great time and interpretation whenever they perform?
I think when you consider the range of factors that play into the traditional application of the term to drumset the list becomes EXTREMELY SHORT. Genius, Artist, and Virtuoso are terms that, I feel, get bantered around too often by those without a understanding of the true extent of their meaning.