Young Thug has been prolific as ever this year, putting out a total of three projects, the latest being JEFFERY, released on Aug. 26. It's been unclear if Thug's labels (300 and Atlantic) have regarded any of the projects as proper "albums," but they have each been released commercially, and two of them have charted within the top 10 on the Billboard albums chart. JEFFERY recently made its debut at No. 8, racking up 37,000 in streaming equivalent album sales and 18,000 in pure albums in the week ending Sept. 1.
February's I'm Up, which arrived as a surprise release, made its Billboard debut at No. 22 and the long-awaited Slime Season 3, released the next month, entered the chart at No. 7. Looking at each of Thugger's 2016 releases, none of them have boasted particularly huge first-week sales numbers. Taken together, though, their chart performances have earned Thug a new stand-alone title, as he's become the first artist in 2016 to earn three top 5 debuts on Billboard's Top Rap Albums chart.
On the Rap Albums chart, JEFFERY made its debut at No. 3, whereas Slime Season 3 and I'm Up debuted at No. 1 and No. 4, respectively. The only other artist to have attained two top 5 debuts on the Rap Albums chart this year is Kevin Gates, with his January debut album, Islah, and his May project Murder for Hire 2. Congrats to Thug on the achievement, a testament to his incredible work ethic.
