Kendrick Lamar Makes Hip-Hop History With Three of the Top 10 Albums on the Billboard 200

Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show (Feb. 9) sparked big gains for the rapper’s catalog of albums, as three of his releases dot the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart dated Feb. 22. GNXreturns to No. 1 (rising 4-1) for a second nonconsecutive week (it debuted atop the list in December), 2017’s chart-topping DAMN. jumps 29-9 and 2012’s good kid, m.A.A.d city vaults 27-10.

It’s the first time in the nearly 69-year history of the chart that a rap act has placed at least three albums concurrently in the top 10. The Billboard 200 began publishing on a regular, weekly basis in March 1956.

The latest Billboard 200 chart reflects activity generated in the U.S. in the tracking week Feb. 7-13. The Feb. 22-dated Billboard 200 will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Feb. 19, one day later than usual, owed to the Presidents’ Day holiday in the U.S. on Feb. 17.

Before Lamar, the last act, overall, with at least three albums in the top 10 was Taylor Swift on the Dec. 9, 2023, chart, when she had five in the region.

Before Lamar, the last male artist — or anyone aside from Swift — to have at least three albums in the top 10 at the same time was Prince, following his death, in 2016. That year, on the May 14 chart, he logged five titles in the region; and on the May 7 chart, he had three in the top 10. Prince died on April 21, 2016.

Lamar is the first living male artist to have at least three albums concurrently in the top 10 since Herb Alpert on the Dec. 24, 1966-dated chart, when he, leading the Tijuana Brass, had three titles in the top 10.

Lamar’s GNX returns to No. 1, rising 4-1, for its second week on top. The album was also released on physical formats for the first time (on Feb. 7), helping spark Lamar’s best sales week since 2017. It was previously only available to stream, and to purchase as a digital download album. GNX debuted at No. 1 on the Dec. 7, 2024-dated chart.

Before Lamar, the last time a Super Bowl halftime performer was No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in the wake of their halftime performance was Justin Timberlake in 2018, when his Man of the Woods album debuted atop the chart dated Feb. 17. The set was released on Feb. 2, 2018 — two days before he headlined Super Bowl LII on Feb. 4 in Minneapolis.

There’s more Lamar action on the latest Billboard 200 outside the top 10, as his former leader To Pimp a Butterfly, released in 2015, jumps 167-54 and the chart-topping Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, from 2022, vaults 185-75. Plus, the Lamar-curated Black Panther soundtrack, released in 2018, reenters at No. 42. The former No. 1 album includes a Lamar collaboration with SZA, “All the Stars,” which the pair performed during the halftime show.

Speaking of SZA, her own former No. 1 SOS rises 3-2 on the Billboard 200. This week marks the first time two performers from the year’s Super Bowl halftime show have been Nos. 1 and 2 in the wake of the big game.

This article was originally published by Billboard U.S.