For Future, the collection keeps growing — and by “collection,” we mean accolades.
Making chart history this week, Future scored a second consecutive chart topper this week with HNDRXX, making him the first artist ever to score two different No. 1 album two weeks in a row on the Billboard 200. As projected last week, Fewtch picked up his fifth No. 1 album as HNDRXX bowed with 121,000 equivalent units total, with 48,000 of those in traditional sales and 63,000 in streaming equivalents. The set replaced his own eponymous release, which debuted at No. 1 last week, bumping it down to No. 2. As Billboard notes, this feat makes Future the first act in the Billboard 200 chart’s 61-year history to earn back-to-back No. 1 debuts in successive weeks. He is also the first artist in nearly 50 years to succeed himself at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. at all (counting not only debuts) since 1968. He’s also the first solo act to ever to claim the honor.
Altogether, that makes three history-making moves for Future’s FUTURE and HNDRXX release, which is the first drop of its kind since Nelly’s 2004 dual album Sweat and Suit. The latter albums arrived on the same date.
The news of Future’s latest achievement comes after the rapper received critical acclaim for HNDRXX, an album that plays like the Yang to FUTURE‘s Yin. Much light-hearted and bright-eyed than its previously-released counterpart, HNDRXX finds Future returning to his Pluto (and pre-Honest) roots. The soul-baring imperfection returns on this unapologetic 17-song project that is very much so the equivalent to the saying: beauty behind the madness. Wistful records like “Solo” and “Sorry” along with warm and breezy “Incredible” and “Testify” are among the standouts that present a man bandaging his wounds for all to see (“Paid for my mistakes like a drug deal” he notes on”Sorry”), while also flossing the rewards from them (“Shinin’ is therapy, money is ready”).
With Future’s HNDRXX at No. 1 and his self-titled release at No. 2, the rapper is the first act in nearly one year to have both the No. 1 and 2 albums simultaneously. The last artist to pull this off was Prince, following his death last year, when he returned to the chart at No. 1 with The Very Best of Prince and at No. 2 with Purple Rain. Coincidentally enough, Future released Purple Reign last year, which can now be a subtle nod to where he’s at today with the historic chart results.