There's the age-old argument in music that sales are an extremely important determinant of an album's success. The classic counterargument to that is that quality matters more in the end. But sometimes, the music can fall somewhere in the middle to where the sales reflect that.
For Joey Bada$$ and Lonely At The Top, it's a pretty interesting case. The lead up to his commercial return was quite incredible. The singles he was dropping, especially during his battle with numerous West Coast MCs, was something special to watch.
Of course, there's the fact that many spectators crowned Joey Bada$$ the winner of said feud, despite him practically being alone. Other East Coast MCs, including Pro Era's own, CJ Fly, stepped in to assist. However, Ray Vaughn, Daylyt, AZ Chike, and others were all targeting Joey in their responses to his disses.
However, despite that competitive back-and-forth and the lyrical displays he put forth, the reception wasn't the same for the album. That's not to say that there weren't people who were enamored with Lonely At The Top though either.
If you check review forums like AOTY, they are mostly positive. But true critics felt Joey played it a bit too by the numbers.
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Joey Bada$$ Lonely At The Top
The Brooklyn MC himself said he was going for a more digestible listening experience. "Made this album in under 6 months in the spirit of a mixtape. Really just wanted to get some raps off and feed the core, nothing more," he said in part.
While he may not care about the hard numbers, it seems like his direction for it was not the right one for some fans and critics alike. That's because Lonely At The Top was not able to crack the Hot 200 chart, selling under 9,000 units.
As a result, this is now the first time Joey didn't debut on the Hot 200 in his career per Hip Hop All Day. But again, there is some quality to be had on the 11-song tracklist. There are solid guest performances as well from A$AP Ferg (FERG), Ty Dolla $ign, Westside Gunn, CJ Fly, among others.
Ultimately, it was a respectable effort from the revered lyricist, but perhaps a different approach and the issues with Columbia Records got in the way from a commercial smash.
