One week after the tragic shooting death of Nipsey Hussle, the Los Angeles rapper and philanthropist has returned near the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart as his GRAMMY-nominated Victory Lap has earned its way to No. 2 after millions flooded streaming services and other digital marketplaces to listen to the late emcee's catalog.
The project earned 66,000 equivalent album units in the week ending April 4th with 17,000 of those efforts being in pure album sales, marking a 7,205 percent jump in sales. It marks a new height for the album, which originally debuted and peaked at No. 4 on the album last March. The project was marketed as Hussle's official debut under a major label and earned him the nomination for Rap Album Of The Year.
Last Sunday, (March 31st) Nip was gunned down outside of his Marathon Clothing company in what law enforcement is labeling a"personal dispute." Since then, the outpouring of grief within and beyond the hip-hop community has been tremendously fierce. A memorial service for Nipsey is set to take place on Thursday(April 11th) at Los Angeles' Staples Center where thousands will gather to pay their final respects to the Nayborhood Nip.
Victory Lap is only beat out by Billie Eilish's When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? the album, which debuts with 313,000 equivalent album units in the United States, making it the second-largest week of any album in 2019. Following behind Nip is Ariana Grande at No. 3 with Thank U, Next earning 53,000 units. Country artist George Strait is at No. 4 for Honky Tonk Time Machine with 51,000 units while Juice WRLD's Death Race For Love slides down to No. 5 with 44,000 units.
At No. 6, NAV's Bad Habits sits with 35,000 units and Post Malone follows behind with beerbongs & bentleys garnering 32,000 units. No. 8 is occupied by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper's A Star Is Born soundtrack with 31,000 while A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie's Hoodie SZN sits at No. 9 with 30,000 units. Closing things out is Drake's Scorpion at No. 10 with 29,000 units.