Lil Pump has gone from Soundcloud sensation to legitimate chart-topper right before our very eyes.
It wasn't long ago that we were referring to the Florida native as one of the faces to watch this year, a rapper who was on the verge of breaking through and achieving another level of stardom. After months of planning and waiting for his self-titled mixtape to finally drop, this week could very well be the stretch that leads to him rising to the top of the hip-hop world.
Already a threat to beat out multiple artists, including the late rocker Tom Petty, for the No. 1 album in the United States, Pump has officially risen to the top of Billboard's Emerging Artists chart, according to a report that was published earlier today (October 12th). The 17-year-old rapper leaned on his breakthrough single "Gucci Gang," which currently sits inside the Top 50 of Billboard's Hot 100, to help gain the noteriety necessary to make a dent in the Emerging Artist rankings. The Emerging Artists chart employs a formula that measures artist activity across multiple Billboard charts in order to calculate placement for each subsequent week, taking into account the the Hot 100, Billboard 200 and the Social 50. There is one caveat however: the Emerging Artists list excludes any Top 25 entry on either the Hot 100 or Billboard 200, since any song or album that strong is deemed to have already exceeded the boundaries of the "emerging" classification.
Pump takes the place of A Boogie Wit da Hoodie, who is now playing with the biggest names in music after the Billboard 200 chart arrival of his debut, The Bigger Artist. That record slots in at No. 4 after moving the sales plus streaming equivalent of 67,000 units. Lil Pump's numbers have been almost entirely bolstered by streaming activity, with less than 20 percent of his combined units coming from digital downloads from the likes of iTunes or a similar source. There's no telling how long this hot streak will last for the Sunshine State emcee, but there's mistaking that this is definitely his introduction to a much wider audience of music consumers the world over.
Were you a fan of Lil Pump's debut? Let us know in the comments.