Kanye West’s Jesus Is King Album Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200
New album, same result. Kanye West's new Jesus Is King LP has debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.
'Ye's latest offering moved 264,000 equivalent album units, reports Billboard. That total features 109,000 traditional album sales. The album also scored 196.9 million on-demand audio streams.
West's latest chart-topping album marks his ninth consecutive No. 1 album. The only album from the Chicago rapper that did not reach the No. 1 spot was his debut The College Dropout. It also marks a resurgence in sales for Kanye. He previous album, Ye, moved 208,000 equivalent album sales when it was released last June.
Kanye has tied Eminem for the most consecutive No. 1 debuts on the chart. They are both behind Jay-Z's 14. This is West's biggest streaming week ever and the second largest traditional sales week of the year for a hip-hop or R&B release.
Kanye's new Christian hip-hop album features guest appearances from Clipse and Ty Dolla $ign, as well as Ant Clemons, Fred Hammond, Kenny G and the Sunday Service Choir.
We almost didn't get the project at all. According to Kanye's pastor, Adam Tyson, Yeezy considered quitting rap before he decided to put the gospel rap album together.
"One time, he told me that he wasn't going to rap," Tyson revealed in a recent interview. "I said, 'Why not?' He said, 'That's the devil's music.' I said, 'Hey, man. Rap is a genre. You can rap for God.' I think he was already thinking about it a little bit, but I definitely said, 'Hey, bro. I think you need to use your talents that God's given you and use that platform for God."
Kanye plans on going on tour for the album right away, though he has yet to reveal the dates.
Other hip-hip artists in the top 10 of this week's Billboard 200 chart include Post Malone (Hollywood's Bleeding, No. 2), YoungBoy Never Broke Again (AI YoungBoy 2, No. 4), DaBaby (Kirk, No. 6) and Young Thug (So Much Fun, No. 10).
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