Kendrick Lamar’s surprise new album ‘GNX’ more or less caps off his biggest year since 2017, but its commercial success isn’t a shock . According to Luminate , the album has now officially debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart, becoming his fifth No. 1 LP (the first in a row). However, official numbers from Billboard and Luminate were slightly lower than the final first-week sales forecast shown by HITS Daily Double. According to the new report, the new project sold 319,000 albums in its first sales tracking week, up from an estimated 325,000 units sold earlier in the week.
Additionally, Kendrick Lamar’s “GNX” now officially has the sixth-biggest first-week album debut of 2024, as well as the third-biggest streaming week of any record this year. Interestingly, Billboard seems to be hinting in their reporting that physical CD, cassette, and vinyl sales of this new record are not included in the first tracking week, presumably because these are pre-orders. This week’s pure album sales (approximately 32K album units) were due to the availability of digital downloads.
Kendrick Lamar’s GNX Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200
Kendrick Lamar’s “GNX” racked up nearly 380 million streams in its first week, making it the most-streamed week for an R&B or hip-hop album this year. It was also the second-biggest opening week, behind Taylor Swift’s THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT. For the record, the album’s first and second weeks accounted for the highest streaming weeks of 2024, with K.Dot not far behind at third. Of course, this adds to the huge success he had earlier this year thanks to his Drake battle clip, the sales of which are currently a controversial topic.
Meanwhile, Drake’s legal action against Universal Music Group and Spotify for allegedly inflating the success of “Not Like Us” isn’t that clear-cut, despite various theories and explanations. But Kendrick Lamar has bigger things to celebrate, and he may be focused on more than just the numbers. Still, it must have been a very satisfying experience to see such successful resonance.
About the author
Gabriel Bras Nevares is a staff writer at HotNewHipHop. He joined HNHH in the summer of 2022 while completing his bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communications at George Washington University. His review of Bad Bunny’s 2024 hometown concert. ) and the lyrical and parasocial intricacies of the Drake war, or the many moving parts in the case of Young Thug and YSL RICO. In addition to his riveting breaking news coverage, Gabriel puts his concert obsession to good use, reviewing and recapping music festivals like Rolling Loud Miami and Camp Flog Gnaw. He’s also cultivated a strong editorial voice through album reviews, think pieces, and interviews with some of the genre’s brightest upstarts and most enduring obscure gems, such as Homeboy Sandman, Bktherula, Bas, and Devin Malik.
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