Kendrick Lamar’s new GNX album debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. The rapper scores the second-biggest debut for a rap album in 2024.
Kendrick Lamar’s GNX Tops Billboard 200 Chart
On Sunday (Dec. 1), Billboard unveiled the top 10 of the new Billboard 200 chart, which unsurprisingly showed K-Dot’s latest effort has topped the chart. GNX earned 319,000 equivalent album units in its first week. This marks Kendrick’s fifth consecutive No. 1 album. The new 12-song effort garnered 379.72 million on-demand streams and 32,000 album sales.
GNX marks the third-biggest debut for Kendrick Lamar behind 2017’s DAMN., which earned 603,000 EAU the first week, and To Pimp a Butterfly, which earned 324,000 in 2015. It is the second biggest debut for a rap album in 2024 behind the re-release of Travis Scott’s Days Before Rodeo.
K-Dot’s new album features guest appearances from SZA, Roddy Ricch and underground Los Angeles artists like Left Gunplay, Hitta J3, Dody6, Wallie The Sensei and others. Dot released the surprise project without notice on Nov. 22 after dropping hints that new music was afoot over the past few months.
The new Kendrick album comes on the heels of him being nominated for seven Grammy Awards at next year’s ceremony. “Not Like Us” received five nominations for Song of the Year, Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song, Record of the Year and Best Music Video.
Read More: To Be Clear, Drake Isn’t Suing Kendrick Lamar, He’s Going After UMG, Spotify and iHeartRadio
Other Hip-Hop Artists in Top 10 of Billboard 200 Chart
The only other hip-hop album in the top 10 of this week’s Billboard 200 chart is Tyler, The Creator’s Chromakopia. The former chart-topping LP enters the chart this week at No. 4.