Kendrick Lamar Continues His Bull Run After Super Bowl, Becomes the First Rapper to Achieve a Major Billboard Milestone

Published 02/16/2025, 9:33 PM EST

Amidst the ever-shifting tides of showbiz, Kendrick Lamar did not just make waves but unleashed a full-blown tsunami that reshaped hip-hop’s very foundation. Turning adversity into a masterclass in domination, he has spent his career stacking firsts like trophies, shattering records once held by legends, and carving his name ever closer to the GOATed pantheon of rap. Charging into 2025 with the unstoppable force of a bull seeing red, Lamar has been on a relentless tear since his Super Bowl spectacle, eyes locked, energy unmatched, bulldozing the charts and gilding through Hollywood projects. And now?

Lamar has done it again by securing a Billboard milestone so monumental, he is officially the first rapper to claim it.

Kendrick Lamar enters his very own Billboard era with this achievement

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According to Billboard’s latest report, fresh off the Super Bowl spectacle that drenched Hollywood in hip-hop headlines, Kendrick Lamar’s ‘GNX’ has returned to #1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. This follows the set’s release in physical formats. But that is not all. Two more Lamar albums have jumped back to the top 10 following the record-shattering halftime show with ‘DAMN’ (2017) and ‘good kid, m.A.A.d city’ (2012) vaulting from 29 to 9 and 27 to 10 respectively. 

With ‘GNX,’ ‘DAMN,’ and ‘good kid, m.A.A.d city’ all reigning in the top 10 of Billboard 200, Lamar is officially the first rapper ever with three albums charting simultaneously since 1956. As per Luminate, ‘GNX’ sold 236,000 album units in the week ending February 13. Of them, SEA units comprise 117,000, album sales 116,000, and TEA units 3,000. This marks Lamar’s largest sales week for an album since ‘DAMN.’ 

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While Lamar already broke records at the Super Bowl, looks like he is far from hitting the brakes even now. Especially since Drake just surpassed him, setting a new streaming achievement.

Drake outshines Kendrick Lamar’s streaming era

The Super Bowl halftime show was a crash course in showbiz grill where Drake was caught with no escape route, whatsoever. But showbiz remains unpredictable with tides shifting faster than light. Drake recently shattered Lamar’s record for the biggest streaming day for a rapper with his latest album, ‘$ome $exy $ongs 4 U.’ With 92.4 million streams, Drake earned himself the biggest streaming day on Spotify in 2025.

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Released on Valentine’s Day, this serves as a collaborative album by PartyNextDoor and Drake. The album also addresses his long-standing feud with Lamar, in tracks like ‘Gimme a Hug.’ Although Drake was found reigniting the beef in Melbourne, Australia, right at the same time during the Super Bowl, with neither him nor Lamar stopping with their chart-toppers, even if the battlefield looks empty, the war looks far from over.

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What do you think of Kendrick Lamar's Billboard 200 dominance? Let us know in the comments below!

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Anushka Bhattacharya

1971 articles

I'm Anushka Bhattacharya, an entertainment journalist at Netflix Junkie. Armed with a degree in literature, I once wielded my words to catalyze change within society through my work with NGOs. However, as I stumbled into the exuberant hole of crime thrillers and documentaries on Netflix, it was love at first sight and pushed me into entertainment journalism.

Edited By: Aliza Siddiqui

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