Kendrick Lamar Keeps Winning Big with Another Big-Selling Hit

Who is Kendrick Lamar?

Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, best known as simply Kendrick Lamar, is an American rapper and songwriter who was born on June 17th, 1987. He was raised in Compton, California, where his father had ties to large gangs, primarily a group called The Gangster Disciples, but also including the bloods. After watching a video shoot for Tupac Shakur in his home-town of Compton, Lamar knew he wanted to pursue music as a career.

Lamar has cited numerous influences in his music, which (according to Rolling Stone) is a poetic combination of old school hip-hop and the modern next big thing. His sound has included sounds and stylings from hip-hop, rhythm and blues, dance, soul, and jazz, with catchy, often in-your-face lyrics placed over the beats. Influences include: Tupac, The Notorious B.I.G., Jay Z, Nas, Eminem, Mos Def, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, and DMX, among others.

Third Studio Album to Sell Over A Million Copies

Kendrick Lamar’s most recent studio album, entitled DAMN, quickly became his third set to sell over a million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen Music. During the week ending on March 29th, the record sold 4K copies. This brings the total sales for DAMN over a million.

Two singles have been released off the album. The first (The Heart part 4) was released prior to the album’s release, while the second (Humble) was released post-album. Humble reached the number one spot on the Billboards.

In 2012, Lamar had his first major-selling hit record with Good Kid, m.a.a.d city, which reached sales total 1.72 million. The feat was duplicated in 2015 with the record To Pimp A Butterfly, which had sales totally 1.05 million. With this newest album, Lamar shows promise in breaking his current records and easily reaching two million traditional album sales should current sales trends continue.

DAMN: Staying on The Charts

On May 6th, 2017, DAMN made its debut on the Billboard 200 chart in the number one spot. It spent four weeks nonconsecutively at the top of the list and would mark his third number one album in a row following the success of 2016’s Untitled Unmastered, and 2015’s To Pimp A Butterfly.

In it’s fiftieth week on the charts, Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN has remained steadily within the top twenty songs. The lowest position it has fallen yet is number 17.
When everything is tallied, DAMN has earned the equivalent to 3.137 million album units. Just over a million of those are in traditional album sales, while the remaining 2+ million are digital copies or individual song downloads tallying up to full album equivalents.

DAMN features several guest appearances by well-know musicians, including collaborations with Rhianna, Zacari, and U2.
A special collectors version of the album was also released. The line up is primarily the same, except that the playlist is in reverse order.

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