Wednesday, December 11, 2024

Kendrick No Schmendrick: Streams Way to Number 1 with Surprise “GNX” Album Drop Amid Drake Feud

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There’s a new number 1 album this week, and it was unexpected.

Kendrick Lamar dropped his surprise “GNX” album this week amid his ongoing feud with fellow rapper Drake.

The “Not Like Us” artist sold 324,285 copies mostly from streaming equivalent. Less than 1/10 of that was actual sales, but who cares? Kendrick is no shmendrick.

Kendrick’s surprise put a damper on the “Wicked” soundtrack release. The album was still pretty “Popular” with 130,000 copies sold, and most of those were actual physical sales — 80,000.

Last week, the number 1 album was something called “Golden Hour Pt 2” by someone called Ateez. This week it fell 86% to number 25.

Back to Kendrick: so he and Drake are still fighting about something. But now Drake is suing his record company, Universal, claiming they made “Not Like Us” into a hit and forgot all about him. I know nothing of this, but I do know that Drake keeps himself on the outside of the record biz. It’s not helpful. He needs to Get with the Program.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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