The Atlanta rapper Lil Baby scored his first No. 1 on Billboard’s album chart this week, with the omnipresent Latin pop star Bad Bunny starting close behind him.
Lil Baby’s “My Turn,” with appearances by Lil Wayne, Lil Uzi Vert, Future and others, had the equivalent of 197,000 sales in the United States, according to Nielsen. The vast majority of that activity came from streaming — with 262 million clicks, “My Turn” had the biggest streaming week in six months, since Post Malone’s “Hollywood’s Bleeding” notched 365 million in September.
Lil Baby’s rise has been quick. In four years, he has released seven full-length collections — landing three others in the Top 5 — and racked up more than 12 billion streams around the world.
Still, the 25-year-old has kept a relatively low profile, avoiding the Paris fashion shows and sometimes rolling up to a Chick-fil-A all alone.
“I just ain’t into it,” he said of the celebrity life in a recent interview with The New York Times. “I’m low-key bigger than the people who do that.”
Also this week, Bad Bunny — a hyper-connected Puerto Rican singer and rapper, who performed on Cardi B’s No. 1 hit “I Like It” and was last seen onstage at the Super Bowl with Jennifer Lopez and Shakira — landed at No. 2 with his latest album, the surprise release “YHLQMDLG.” (The title stands for “Yo hago lo que me da la gana,” or “I do what I want.”) It had the equivalent of 179,000 sales, including 201 million streams.
Last week’s top seller, “Map of the Soul: 7” by the K-pop sensation BTS, fell to No. 3. James Taylor’s “American Standard” opened at No. 4, and Roddy Ricch’s “Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial” holds at No. 5.
Source: Music - nytimes.com
