Kanye West's "Donda" Tops Billboard 200 With Year-Best In Album Sales

BYCole Blake8.4K Views
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Kanye West, Donda
Kanye West debuts atop the Billboard 200 with most first-week sales of 2021.

Kanye West's new long-awaited album, "Donda," debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 309,000 equivalent album units. The new project dethroned Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour, which moved 295,000 units in June, as the most successful debut of the year.

West has now become one of just seven artists to have at least 10 No. 1 albums. The other six are The Beatles (19), Jay-Z (14), Bruce Springsteen (11), Barbra Streisand (11), Eminem (10), and Elvis Presley (10).

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In hot pursuit of West, is Drake, who currently had nine albums that have debuted at No. 1. Time will tell whether the Toronto rapper's newest effort, Certified Lover Boy, will be enough to bring the number of artists with double-digit No. 1 albums to eight.

West's build-up to Donda included holding three massive live listening events on July 22, Aug. 5, and Aug. 26 that garnered anticipation for the project.

Also helping with West's successful new release is a star-studded guest line that includes The Weeknd, Jay Electronica, The LOX, Young Thug, the late rapper Pop Smoke, Pusha T, Travis Scott, Lil Baby, Fivio Foreign and Kid Cudi, among others. Andre 3000 even almost made an appearance, until there was a miscommunication which left the Outkast rapper unaware that his verse had to be free of explitives.

[Via]


About The Author
Cole Blake is a current staff writer at HotNewHipHop based out of New York City. He began writing for the site as an intern back in 2018 while finishing his B.A. in Journalism at St. John’s University. In the time since, he’s covered a number of breaking stories for HNHH. These include the ongoing YSL RICO trial, the allegations surrounding Diddy, and much more. His work also extends outside of hip-hop, having written extensively about a myriad of topics including politics, sports, and pop culture. He’s attended several music festivals to provide coverage for the site as well, such as Rolling Loud and Governors Ball.
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