Here’s the First Rap Album to Top the Billboard 200 in Each Calendar Year (Complete List)

Paul Grein
·4 min read

As Billboard reported on Monday (July 10), Lil Uzi Vert’s Pink Tape enters the Billboard 200 at No. 1 in the issue dated July 15. That’s the latest in the calendar year we’ve had to wait to see a rap album at No. 1 since 1993, when Cypress Hill’s Black Sunday rang the bell on Aug. 7.

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07/10/2023

In every other year since 1989, the first album to reach No. 1 did so in the first half of the year.

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Beastie Boys’ Licensed to Ill was the first rap album to top the Billboard 200, reaching No. 1 on March 7, 1987. No rap albums reached No. 1 in 1988, the last year that that has been the case.

2Pac had the year’s first rap album to reach No. 1 four times, more than any other rapper. He had the first rap album to reach No. 1 in 1995 and 1996, while he was still living, and in 2001 and 2005, after his death. The rapper was killed in a drive-by shooting in September 1996 at the age of 25.

DMX had the first rap album to reach No. 1 three times – in 1998, 1999 and 2000. He’s the only rapper to have the year’s first rap album to reach No. 1 in three consecutive years. The rapper died in April 2021 at age 50.

Rick Ross and Nicki Minaj each had the first rap album to reach No. 1 twice. Ross scored in 2008 and 2009; Minaj in 2011 and 2012. Minaj is the only female artist to have the first No. 1 rap album of a year.

One soundtrack was the first rap album to hit No. 1 in a calendar year. That was Gridlock’d (1997), which featured such stars as 2Pac and Snoop Doggy Dogg (as he was then billed).

One supergroup collective has had the first No. 1 rap album of the year. That happened in 2020 when Jackboys achieved the feat. The group comprised Travis Scott, Sheck Wes, Don Toliver and Chase B.

Five times, a rap album was the first album to top the Billboard 200 in a calendar year. Once, this was true in back-to-back years. The first album to reach No. 1 in 2018 was Eminem’s Revival. The first to achieve the feat in 2019 was 21 Savage’s I Am > I Was.

Here’s a complete list of the first rap albums to reach No. 1 in each calendar year:

1987: Beastie Boys, Licensed to Ill (March 7)

1988: none

1989: Tone Lōc, Lōc-ed After Dark (April 15)

1990: MC Hammer, Please Hammer, Don’t Hurt ’Em (June 9)

1991: Vanilla Ice, To the Extreme (Jan. 5)

1992: Kris Kross, Totally Krossed Out (May 23)

1993: Cypress Hill, Black Sunday (Aug. 7)

1994: Snoop Doggy Dogg: Doggystyle (Jan. 15)

1995: 2Pac, Me Against the World (April 1)

1996: 2Pac, All Eyez on Me (March 2)

1997: Soundtrack, Gridlock’d (Feb. 15)

1998: DMX, It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot (June 6)

1999: DMX, Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood (Jan. 9)

2000: DMX, …And Then There Was X (Jan. 8)

2001: 2Pac, Until the End of Time (April 14)

2002: Big Tymers, Hood Rich (May 18)

2003: 50 Cent, Get Rich or Die Tryin’ (Feb. 22)

2004: OutKast, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (Jan. 10)

2005: 2Pac, Loyal to the Game (Jan. 1)

2006: Juvenile, Reality Check (March 25)

2007: Nas, Hip Hop Is Dead (Jan. 6)

2008: Rick Ross, Trilla (March 29)

2009: Rick Ross, Deeper Than Rap (May 9)

2010: Ludacris, Battle of the Sexes (March 27)

2011: Nicki Minaj, Pink Friday (Feb. 19)

2012: Nicki Minaj, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (April 21)

2013: ASAP Rocky, Long.Live.ASAP (Feb. 2)

2014: Schoolboy Q, Oxymoron (March 15)

2015: Drake, If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late (Feb. 28)

2016: Future, Evol (Feb. 27)

2017: Migos, Culture (Feb. 18)

2018: Eminem, Revival (Jan. 3)

2019: 21 Savage, I Am > I Was (Jan. 5)

2020: Jackboys, Jackboys (Jan. 11)

2021: Playboi Carti, Whole Lotta Red (Jan. 9)

2022: Gunna, DS4Ever (Jan. 22)

2023: Lil Uzi Vert, Pink Tape (July 15)

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