Kendrick Lamar's 'Damn' Has Spent 25 Consecutive Weeks in the Billboard 200 Top 10
A few days after Kendrick Lamar released Damn back in April, the Compton rapper was projected to not only debut at No. 1, but also move close to half a million equivalent album units first week. The end result was the top slot on the Billboard 200 chart and 603,000 units moved. That moment was a sign of his impending chart dominance this year.
In the Billboard 200 chart week ending Oct. 5, Kendrick reached another career achievement: Damn has spent 25 consecutive weeks in the top 10. That's nearly half of the entire year. No matter how you slice it, it's an impressive feat.
Here's what makes it more impressive. In a year where albums have been released from Ed Sheeran, Drake, and Katy Perry—three artists who have made the Billboard charts home their entire career—only Damn and Sheeran's ÷ have spent 25 or more weeks on the Billboard 200 chart. Sheeran has tallied up 27 weeks, but his longest streak is 20.
And if we're talking streaks, Damn spent 21 straight weeks in the top five; Sheeran's ÷ topped out at nine weeks.
The last rapper to spend 25 or more weeks in the top 10 was Drake with his 2016 release Views. That album lasted 35 weeks in the top 10, with a streak of 30 (May 21-Dec. 10).
Back in July, Billboard unveiled Nielsen Music's mid-year report for top-performing albums based on overall equivalent album units, and Damn led the way with 1,772,000 units. That total is now around the 2.3 million mark based on recent reports, which means Kendrick Lamar is still the front-runner.
There's a possibility Taylor Swift could swoop in the last two months of 2017 and snatch the crown with her sixth studio album Reputation (due out Nov. 10), but for now King Kendrick reigns supreme.
Check out a week-to-week rank and figure breakdown of Damn below.
Week Rank Figure
April 20 No. 1 603,000
April 27 No. 1 239,000
May 4 No. 1 173,000
May 11 No. 3 134,000
May 18 No. 3 117,000
May 25 No. 2 98,000
June 1 No. 2 84,000
June 8 No. 2 73,000
June 15 No. 2 69,000
June 22 No. 3 70,000
June 29 No. 3 59,000
July 6 No. 3 56,000
July 13 No. 3 54,000
July 20 No. 2 56,000
July 27 No. 5 48,000
Aug. 3 No. 2 47,000
Aug. 10 No. 1 47,000
Aug. 17 No. 2 43,000
Aug. 24 No. 3 41,000
Aug. 31 No. 5 45,000
Sept. 7 No. 4 40,000
Sept. 14 No. 8 35,000
Sept. 21 No. 4 34,000
Sept. 28 No. 8 34,000
Oct. 5 No. 9 34,000
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