Kendrick Lamar’s GNX returns to the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart for a second week (it rose 4-1 on the survey dated February 22), following the release of the set on physical formats and his Super Bowl halftime show on February 9. (It was previously exclusively accessible as a digital download album and for streaming.)
Kendrick Lamar wins again: After his appearance at the Super Bowl Halftime Show, his album “GNX” returns to the top spot on the Billboard 200 with 236,000 equivalent album units.
Following the halftime show, two more Lamar albums make their way back to the top 10: 2012’s good kid, m.a.a.d city, vaults 27-10, and 2017’s chart-topping DAMN. drives 29-9. Activity produced in the United States during the week ending February 13 is reflected in the most recent Billboard 200.
With GNX, DAMN. and good kid, m.A.A.d city all in the top 10, Lamar is the first rap performer with three albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 at the same time. In March 1956, the chart started publishing regularly, every week.
“GNX” is the set’s second week at the top of the chart since its November debut, with its most recent leap from No. 4 to 1. Furthermore, Lamar’s other albums, “Damn” from 2017 and “Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City” from 2012, both make a comeback to the top 10, rising from No. 29 to 9 and No. 28 to 10, respectively. His latest achievement places him as the only rapper to have three albums simultaneously in the top 10 of the charts.
According to Luminate’s compilation of multi-metric consumption measured in equivalent album units, the Billboard 200 chart lists the top albums of the week in the United States. Album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA), and streaming equivalent albums (SEA) are all included in units. One album, 10 individual tracks from an album, 3,750 ad-supported, or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand audio and video streams produced by album tracks are all equivalent to one unit. Due to the U.S. Presidents’ Day holiday on February 17, the updated chart with the date of February 22, 2025, will be fully available on Billboard’s website on February 19, one day later than usual.
Luminate reports that of the 236,000 equivalent album units that GNX earned in the U.S. during the week ending February 13th, 117,000 (up 86%; approximately equivalent to 161.01 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs; it jumps 4-1 on Top Streaming Albums) were SEA units, 116,000 (up 10,100%; it reenters at No. 1 on Top Album Sales for its first week at No. 1 on that chart), and 3,000 were TEA units. The collection has sold 236,000 units, its most since it debuted at No. 1 on the Dec. 7, 2024, list with 319,000 sales.
When “GNX” was released in November, it peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, becoming the California rapper’s fourth straight number-one single. 319,000 album units were sold by the surprise release set. Using the album’s top singles, “Squabble Up,” “TV Off,” and “Luther” with SZA, Lamar became the fourth artist in history to hold the top five spots on the Hot 100 at the same time, joining Taylor Swift, Drake, and the Beatles.
GNX sold 116,000 copies, which is Lamar’s best album sales week since DAMN., which sold 353,000 copies in its first week of release (chart dated May 6, 2017). Vinyl sales make up 87,000 of GNX’s 116,000 total sales, which was Lamar’s greatest vinyl week ever. On February 7, GNX made its physical debut as a CD, cassette, and five vinyl versions.
Lamar is the first living male artist to have three albums simultaneously in the top 10 on the Billboard 200 since Herb Alpert, who had three titles in the top 10 on the list of December 24, 1966, along with the Tijuana Brass. On the Dec. 9, 2023, chart, Taylor Swift had five albums in the region, making her the most current performer overall with at least three in the top 10.
Prince, who passed away in 2016, was the last male musician, except Swift, to have at least three albums in the top 10 simultaneously. He recorded five titles in the region on the May 14 chart that year and three of them were in the top 10 on the May 7 chart. Prince died on April 21, 2016.
GNX is still in the top five on the weekly total and has been on the chart for 12 weeks in a row.
Good kid, m.A.A.d city, rises 27-10 with 37,000 units (up 71%) and former No. 1 DAMN. drives 29-9 on the Billboard 200 with 39,000 equivalent album units gained (up 93%). DAMN. topped the list for four weeks in 2017 and peaked at number nine on the chart dated March 17, 2018, placing it last in the top 10. The Good Kid album peaked at No. 2 in 2012 and finished at No. 9 on the chart on Nov. 24, 2012, the last time it made it into the top 10.
With 109,000 equivalent album units sold (up 33%), SZA, who was a special guest performer during Lamar’s halftime show, sees her former No. 1 SOS rise 3-2 on the latest Billboard 200. Four more tracks were added to the album when it was released on February 9.
In its second week (101,000 equivalent album units; down 79%), The Weeknd’s Hurry Up Tomorrow drops 1-3 on the Billboard 200, Bad Bunny’s chart-topping Debí Tirar Más Fotos drops 2-4 (78,000; down 17%), and Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess rises 6-5 (59,000; up 19%).
Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping One Thing at a Time is a non-mover at No. 8 (41,000; down 8%), Sabrina Carpenter’s former leader Short n’ Sweet is steady at No. 7 (51,000; up 5%), and Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft drops 5-6 (56,000 equivalent album units earned; up 6%).
SZA, Samuel L. Jackson, Serena Williams, and Mustard joined Lamar’s Super Bowl Halftime Show for a tribute to Compton on the world’s largest platform. Songs from “GNX” made up the majority of the setlist, along with a few hits from his back catalog, including “DNA,” “Peekaboo,” “Squabble Up,” and of course, “Not Like Us.”
The performance came after Lamar’s impressive sweep at the Grammys this year, where his Drake diss track “Not Like Us” won five awards: Best Rap Song, Best Rap Performance, Best Music Video, and Song of the Year.