Kendrick Lamar’s recently dropped GNX album is anticipated to have a big impact on the Billboard 200 chart after its unexpected release last week.
HITS Daily Double reports that the album with 12 tracks is expected to achieve 291,000 equivalent album units during its debut week, with approximately 30,000 in pure sales.
This number indicates that GNX would easily enter the top spot on the upcoming chart, surpassing the Wicked soundtrack that is expected to sell more than 100,000 units.
GNX, Kendrick’s initial album released outside of Top Dawg Entertainment, will also be his sixth in a row to reach the top of the charts, following To Pimp a Butterfly, untitled unmastered., DAMN., Black Panther: The Album, and Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers.
US albums chart preview (via @HITSDD):
#1 @kendricklamar 291K
#2 Wicked 109K
#3 Sabrina Carpenter (@SabrinAnnLynn) 70K
#4 @tylerthecreator 68K
#5 @billieeilish 50K
#6 @gracieabrams 48K
#7 @rauwalejandro 45K
#8 @MorganWallen 42K
#9 @taylorswift13 40K
#10 Zach Bryan 39K
Projected first-week sales for this album are expected to be similar to Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers but lower than To Pimp a Butterfly and DAMN. (603,000 copies), which stands as his most commercially successful album to date.
In the 2024 rap album landscape, GNX would place third in initial week sales, with Travis Scott’s Days Before Rodeo re-release (361,000) and Tyler, The Creator’s Chromakopia (299,500) taking first and second place, respectively.
Nevertheless, it would surpass Eminem’s The Death of Slim Shady (281,000), Future and Metro Boomin’s We Don’t Trust You (251,000), and Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign’s Vultures 1 (148,000) in performance.
GNX marks the end of a successful year for Kendrick Lamar, who triumphed in his well-known rivalry with Drake, achieving one of the top hits of 2024 with his acclaimed, Grammy-nominated (and possibly controversial) track “Not Like Us.”
It also comes shortly before his halftime show at the upcoming Super Bowl in New Orleans, which upset Lil Wayne and many of his followers.
Kendrick acknowledged the debate on the first track of the album “wacced out murals,” where he rapped: “I used to listen to ‘Tha Carter III,’ proudly showing off my Rollie chain / Ironically, I feel like my dedication let Lil Wayne down.”
He then said: “I won the Super Bowl and Nas was the only one to congratulate me / All these guys are upset, but I’m just happy they’re showing their faces / To be honest, there are many artists but they are out of touch / Outdated styles, trying to convince me that they are your favorite.”
Lil Wayne angrily replied to the lyrics on X (formerly Twitter), asking: “What did I do?!” I am relaxed but they still come for me. Let’s not mistake kindness as a sign of weakness. Allow this enormous creature to slumber. I plead with all of you. Nobody truly desires destruction, not even myself, but I will cause it if provoked. “Focused on me.” Affection.”
However, Nas kept showing support for Kendrick by applauding him for “maintaining the core of this genre and leading the way” with GNX.
