Music Biz: Kendrick Lamar’s “DAMN.” Becomes His Third Million-Selling Album
It didn’t take long for Kendrick Lamar‘s DAMN. to eclipse one million album equivalent units, but its journey into the 7-figure range in pure sales has naturally been a longer one. According to Billboard, the album hit 1 million in traditional sales on Friday, making it the rapper’s third album to accomplish the increasingly rare feat. Though the album has only been certified double platinum, the report states that the album has now moved a total of 3.137 million equivalent album units. In other words, a triple platinum certification from the RIAA is not far away (the last certification came in July 2017).
DAMN. debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart dated May 6, 2017, and spent four nonconsecutive weeks atop the list. It marked his third straight No. 1 effort, following untitled unmastered. (2016) and To Pimp a Butterfly.
DAMN. has not left the top 20 of the Billboard 200 since its release, for a total of 50 weeks. In fact, the lowest it has dipped is No. 17. As of last week, the album moved from 14 to 13. The album was his third consecutive album to hit No. 1 following To Pimp A Butterfly and untitled.unmastered. If you include the Black Panther soundtrack, which he curated alongside Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith, he has now earned 4 consecutive No. 1 albums.