Kendrick Lamar became the first rapper to have three albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200. (GNX returns to No. 1, DAMN. surges to No. 9 and 2012’s good kid, m.A.A.d city has risen to No. 10).
Following his Super Bowl Halftime Show performance
Kendrick Lamar has set chart history as the first rapper with three albums in the Billboard 200 top 10 all at the same time.
According to Billboard, the Super Bowl halftime performance played a factor in its return to the top spot as well.
first at No. 1 with GNX. Dot’s latest studio effort moves up from No. 4 with 236,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending February 13, including 117,000 in streaming equivalent album units (161.01 million on-demand streams of the songs), 116,000 in album sales and 3,000 track equivalent album units. This marks GNX’s second week at No. 1 and is its largest week since its No. 1 debut in December 2024.
Following GNX are DAMN. and good kid, m.A.A.d city at Nos. 9 and 10 respectively, both of which jump from Nos. 29 and 27. The former moves with 39,000 equivalent album units earned while the latter earned 37,000 equivalent album units. DAMN.‘s last top 10 appearance dates back to March 2018 while good kid, m.A.A.d city’s dates back to November 2012.
Per Billboard, GNX finished with 236,000 equivalent album units earned with 117,000 of those comprised of SEA units. Meanwhile, DAMN. had 39,000 equivalent album units earned, while good kid, m.A.A.d city scored 37,000 units. All in all, just a monster week for Kendrick.
Elsewhere on the chart, SZA’s ‘SOS’ finished at number two on the chart, while The Weeknd’s Hurry Up Tomorrow fell from number one to number three.
This is the first time in the nearly 69-year history of the chart that a rap act has placed at least three albums concurrently in the top 10.
Not only did he become the first rapper to have three albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200, but he was also the first rapper to hit 100 million Spotify monthly listeners.
He currently has 100 million monthly listeners (100,052,025, to be precise), which makes him the first rapper to reach that milestone in Spotify history.
The list of other artists to ever hit 100 million is a short one (per data from Kworb): Bruno Mars (151 million), The Weeknd (125), Ariana Grande (123), Lady Gaga (123), Taylor Swift (116), Billie Eilish (108), Justin Bieber (104), and Mariah Carey (100). That makes Lamar just the ninth artist to ever reach 100 million.
The next closest rappers behind Lamar are Post Malone (98), Bad Bunny (95), Drake (86), Eminem (86), Kanye West (78), Doja Cat (76), and Travis Scott (75).
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