Drake’s Victory Over Kendrick Lamar in Billboard 200 Battle
It might’ve been a long time coming, but Drake has finally scored a win in his contentious rap beef with Kendrick Lamar: “$ome $exy $ongs 4 U,” Drake and PartyNextDoor’s first joint LP, tops the Billboard 200 at No. 1, taking the spot from Kendrick Lamar’s “GNX.”
PartyNextDoor and Drake’s Success
“$ome $exy” earned the equivalent of 46,000 album units in the United States this week, according to Luminate, becoming PartyNextDoor’s first leader on the albums chart. As for Drake, it’s his 14th No. 1 set, marking a tie that places the Canadian hitmaker in the same echelon as Jay-Z and Taylor Swift for the most No. 1s among soloists (as Billboard notes, only the Beatles, with the grand total of 19 No. 1s, have more).
Lamar’s Response and Return to Top 10
Lamar topped the list with “GNX” last week following his performance at the Super Bowl. Additionally, two of Lamar’s other albums — 2017’s “Damn” and 2012’s “Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City” — returned to the top 10, as the former surged from No. 29 to 9 and the latter from No. 28 to 10.
Streaming Records Broken
Drake and PartyNextDoor also scored the largest streaming week for any album this year — logging 287.04 million — since Lamar’s “GNX” debuted at No. 1 on the Dec. 7, 2024, chart with 379.72 million streams.
Lamar’s “GNX” moves to No. 3 on the list this week as Sabrina Carpenter’s former leader “Short n’ Sweet” moves to No. 2 with 156,000 equivalent album units earned following its deluxe reissue with five new songs on Feb. 14. Dolly Parton wa enlisted as a feature on a remix of “Please Please Please,” and additional tracks include “15 Minutes,” “Couldn’t Make It Any Harder,” “Busy Woman” and “Bad Reviews.” The reissue led to “Short n’ Sweet’s” biggest week since it debuted at No. 1 on the chart back in September.
FAQs
Q: Who topped the Billboard 200 chart this week?
A: Drake and PartyNextDoor’s joint LP, “$ome $exy $ongs 4 U,” claimed the top spot.
Q: How many No. 1 albums does Drake have now?
A: Drake’s success with “$ome $exy” marks his 14th No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart.
Credit: variety.com
