Drake’s reign atop the Billboard 200 albums chart continues. For the third consecutive week, Drizzy’s Certified Lover Boy (CLB) remains the No. 1 album in the U.S., according to Billboard. CLB earned 171,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Sept. 23, according to MRC Data. Drizzy’s 10th solo studio album debuted at No. 1 with an impressive 613,000 equivalent album units, which is still the biggest week for any album in over a year.
Since it’s spent three weeks in the No. 1 spot, CLB has now been atop the charts longer than any other hip hop album in over a year. Lil Baby’s My Turn held down the No. 1 spot back in July 2020 for five weeks. The physical CLB CD is set to be released on Oct. 1, however, the album still sold 4,000 digital copies and accumulated 2,000 track equivalent album units. Drizzy’s albums have now spent a whopping 30 combined weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
CLB’s debut earnings nearly doubled Kanye West’s Donda. The 21-track offering also fended off Lil Nas X’s Montero, which came in just behind Drake at the No. 2 spot on the Billboard 200 with 126,000 equivalent album units earned.
Lil Nas thanked his fans via Twitter for helping him reach No. 2. “[I] just wanna say thank u again to every single person who gave my album a listen. So many people said I wouldn’t have a career after 2019 and now I have one of the biggest albums of the year. I love u guys and I do not take u for granted,” he wrote.
Next week, sales for YoungBoy Never Broke Again’s Sincerely, Kentrell could surpass both Drake and Lil Nas X’s latest albums if first-week projections by Hits Daily Double pan out. The publication is predicting Youngboy’s latest project to debut at No. 1 next week with between 135,000-155,000 equivalent album units, and it could be the biggest debut thus far for the embattled Baton Rouge rapper.