Jan 28, 2018; New York, NY, USA; Kendrick Lamar accepts Best Rap Album during the 60th Annual Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY via Imagn Images
Kendrick Lamar’s new album has sold over 300k equivalent album units.
DJ Akademiks has responded to Kendrick Lamar’s new album, GNX, selling 319,000 equivalent album units in its first week of availability. Discussing the success of the project during one of his streams on Sunday night, Akademiks, who has been a passionate supporter of Lamar’s rival, Drake, began by congratulating him for landing at number one on the Billboard 200 chart.
“I think it’s a decent number,” he said. “It’s definitely a good number for Kendrick. And I understand that there’s a bunch of Drake fans here and Kendrick fans here who want to compete and compare these two. There is no comparison. I keep trying to tell you: Kendrick could die 15 deaths, he doesn’t compete with Drake overall for streaming.” He then described GNX as a “stellar” release for him.
Kendrick Lamar Accepts The Grammy Award For Best Rap Album
Kendrick Lamar accepts the award for best rap album for “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers during the 65th Annual Grammy Awards at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023. © Robert Hanashiro, Robert Hanashiro / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Akademiks also brought up the songs “squabble up,” “tv off,” “luther,” “wacced out murals,” and “hey now” all taking up the top five spots on the Billboard Hot 100. To put the success in perspective, Ak also noted that Drake has remained one of the most-streamed artists of the year despite not putting out an entire body of work. “It’s not fair to bring Kendrick up in like a streaming and data conversation,” he remarked, before noting that he’s closer to Future’s level than Drake’s.
DJ Akademiks Discusses Kendrick Lamar’s New Album
Lamar’s streaming numbers are noteworthy considering Drake’s bombshell lawsuits against Universal Music Group, in which he accuses the company of allegedly artificially boosting the streams of “Not Like Us.” Drake filed the petitions in New York and Texas, while also accusing UMG of defamation. UMG has already denied the allegations. Check out DJ Akademiks’ full response to GNX’s album sales below.
