June 18th will forever be a day locked in the mind of hip-hop fans because of the three important album releases on that day. The week of June 18th was memorable because each hip-hop album that dropped-- Kanye West, J. Cole and Mac Miller-- broke the 100k mark. Now, once more, history on the Billboard 200 has been made.
Kanye West's Yeezus, J. Cole's Born Sinner and Wale's The Gifted are all part of a first-ever moment for the Billboard 200 chart. This week J. Cole's album sits at #1, Wale at #2, and Kanye at #3. A week prior the order was Wale, J. Cole and Kanye, and the one before that was, Kanye, J. Cole and Mac Miller. What does this all mean? It's the first time rap albums have dominated the top three spots on the charts for three consecutive weeks.
Previous to this, there were two times where the top three albums on the Billboard 200 were rap, but only for two consecutive weeks. This was back in 2002, with Nelly, Eminem and Nas dominated spot #1, #2 and #3, which was followed by Nelly, Eminem and the compilation Irv Gotti Presents The Inc.
We'll have another first ever next week, if Jay-Z's Magna Carta Holy Grail tops the list-- which it should do, easily. This will mark the first time four different rap albums have consecutively spent their debut week at #1.
[via Billboard]
