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Chart Beat

Kendrick Lamar's 'GNX' Debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard Canadian Albums Chart

Gracie Abrams holds onto the top spot on the Canadian Hot 100, while the Belgian/French duo of Stromae and Pomme enter at No. 44 with "Ma Meilleure Ennemie" from the Arcane League of Legends: Season 2 soundtrack, which also debuts on the Canadian Albums chart.

Kendrick Lamar
Kendrick Lamar
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Kendrick Lamar has claimed a new No. 1 album in the home country of his biggest rival.

GNX, K-Dot's surprise sixth studio release, arrives in the top spot on the Billboard Canadian Albums chart, dated December 7.


But unlike in the U.S., Lamar didn't manage to hit No. 1 on the Canadian Hot 100.

Gracie Abrams holds onto that spot with "That's So True" for the second week as the Eras Tour (where she's performing as Taylor Swift's opening act) rolls into Vancouver this week from Dec. 6-8.

Kendrick Lamar is still well represented at the top of the Canadian Hot 100, though. His sleek slow jam "Luther" featuring SZA is at No. 2, and "Squabble Up" — which claimed the No. 1 spot south of the border — is at No. 3.

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Shaboozey's "A Bar Song (Tipsy)," meanwhile, drops to No. 5, indicating his record-setting run might really be done.

Those are strong numbers for Kendrick Lamar in Drake's home country, even if the Compton rapper hasn't hit the same highs as in the U.S. just yet.

Lamar will be taking his GNX on the road next year on the Grand National tour, with one Canadian date in Drake's hometown, at the Rogers Centre stadium on June 12 with SZA.

Elsewhere on the Canadian Hot 100, it's Christmas galore. With the holidays approaching and new releases winding down, seasonal entries are edging out new songs.

But a notable one this week is Belgian singer Stromae and French artist Pomme with "Ma Meilleure Ennemie." The track arrives at No. 44 — 51 places higher than its No. 95 debut in the U.S. — and features on the soundtrack for the League of Legends animated Netflix show Arcane: Season 2, which is at No. 7 on the Billboard Canadian Albums chart. It's easy to see how the song could work for a video game adaptation: the song has a mesmerizing slow dembow beat, paired with ethereal vocals and heavy vocoder use, giving it the sense of a sweeping epic.

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Check out the full charts here.

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Perry Bamonte of The Cure performs at Shoreline Amphitheatre on June 2, 2000 in Mountain View, Calif.
Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images

Perry Bamonte of The Cure performs at Shoreline Amphitheatre on June 2, 2000 in Mountain View, Calif.

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Perry Bamonte, The Cure’s Guitarist & Keyboardist, Dead at 65 After ‘a Short Illness’

He "was a warm hearted and vital part of The Cure story," the band said in a statement.

Perry Bamonte, The Cure‘s guitarist and keyboardist, died over the Christmas break, the band announced in a message posted to its website on Friday (Dec. 26). The musician was 65 years old.

“It is with enormous sadness that we confirm the death of our great friend and bandmate Perry Bamonte, who passed away after a short illness at home over Christmas,” the Grammy-nominated band began its statement. “Quiet, intense, intuitive, constant and hugely creative, ‘Teddy’ was a warm-hearted and vital part of The Cure story.”

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