Drake dethrones Kendrick Lamar at number one on Billboard 200
Drake‘s beef with Kendrick Lamar has taken another turn as his new album Some Sexy Songs 4 U debuts at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, replacing GNX. Drizzy’s latest album, a collaborative project with PARTYNEXTDOOR, was released on February 14th and opened in the top spot this week.
Some Sexy Songs 4 U debuted with 246,000 units sold in its first week, comprised of 219,000 SEA units, 25,000 album sales and 2,000 TEA units. Its 287million on-demand song streams make it the biggest streaming week for an album in 2025.
The album dethrones Kendrick’s GNX, which returned to number one last week following the success of the Super Bowl LIX halftime show. GNX drops from number one to number three in the chart, down 42% after earning 136,000 units. This marks the first time the pair have traded places at number one on the Billboard 200.
Some Sexy Songs 4 U is Drake’s 14th number-one album and PARTYNEXTDOOR’s first project to top the chart. Drake has now tied Jay-Z and Taylor Swift for the most number-one albums as a soloist with 14 each. His last album, For All the Dogs, debuted at number one in 2023 with 402,000 units.
Drake and Kendrick’s beef began with K. Dot’s verse on Future and Metro Boomin’s ‘Like That’ last year, with the song reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Drake’s diss tracks included ‘Push Ups’, ‘Taylor Made Freestyle’, ‘Family Matters’, ‘Buried Alive Interlude, Pt. 2’ and ‘The Heart Part 6’. As for Kendrick, he dropped ‘Euphoria’, ‘6:16 in LA’, ‘Meet the Grahams’ and ‘Not Like Us’.
Kendrick performed ‘Euphoria’ and ‘Not Like Us’ at the Super Bowl on February 9th at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. During the show, he referenced Drake suing over ‘Not Like Us’, telling the audience, “I want to perform their favourite song, but you know they love to sue.”
Later, Kendrick smiled into the camera and said, “Say, Drake, I hear you like ‘em young.” While he didn’t call Drake a paedophile, the crowd famously sang along to the lyrics, “Tryna strike a chord, and it’s probably A minor.” He also illuminated the words “game over” onto the crowd at the show’s end, declaring an end to their rap beef.