For three years, fans of J. Cole patiently waited for a new solo album. In those years, the rapper delivered an impressive guest feature run, even spearheading Dreamville’s compilation album Revenge Of The Dreamers III. At long last, the wait ended earlier this month, when the North Carolina rapper shared his sixth album, The Off-Season, which saw Bas, Morray, Lil Baby, and 21 Savage contribute to Cole’s latest hip-hop chapter. Now, the album is Cole’s sixth chart-topper, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
The Off-Season achieved the feat thanks to a total of 282,000 album units, the most for a hip-hop release this year. This number is comprised of 243,000 streaming equivalent album units and 37,000 album sales. The former is a result of 325.05 million on-demand streams of the album’s tracks, making for the most from any full-length effort that was released this year. The previous record holder was Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album, which posted 240.18 million streams in its first week.
With the debut of The Off-Season at No. 1, all six of J. Cole’s official albums have now held the top spot on the Billboard 200. The rapper’s 2013 release, Born Sinner was the only release that failed to debut at No. 1. The rapper’s only full-length project that failed to reach No. 1 at any point was 2016’s Forest Hills Drive: Live, which peaked at No. 71.
The Off-Season is out now via Dreamville/Roc Nation. Get it here.