Kendrick Lamar’s unexpected album, GNX, has debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, it is his fifth consecutive chart-topping release.
The 12-track project, released on Nov. 22, sold 319,000 equivalent album units in its first week.
This makes it the sixth-largest debut of 2024 and the third-biggest streaming week of the year for any album.
Streaming activity played a major role in GNX’s success, generating 379.72 million on-demand official streams, the largest streaming week for any R&B/hip-hop album in 2024.
Among all albums, it recorded the year’s second-biggest debut streaming week, trailing only Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department.
The chart-topping debut comes ahead of Lamar’s anticipated performance as the headliner for the Super Bowl halftime show on Feb. 9, 2025, in New Orleans.
This will be his second appearance at the event, following the 2022 hip-hop showcase led by Dr. Dre.
In addition to GNX, the Billboard 200’s latest update features the Wicked film soundtrack debuting at No. 2. Starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, the soundtrack is the highest debut for a big-screen adaptation of a stage musical.
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