Rod Wave has scored his first No. 1 album.
On Sunday (April 4), Billboard announced the top 10 of the latest Billboard 200 chart and reported the Florida rap-crooner's third LP, SoulFly, debuted at the top spot. The 2020 XXL Freshman moved an impressive 130,000 equivalent album units with 4,000 of the tally coming from traditional album sales. What makes the feat even more remarkable is the 19-song album only contains a sole feature in Polo G on the track, "Richer," unlike many of the cameo-heavy LPs that have done numbers in recent years. Wave's first week is also the biggest this year for a hip-hop/R&B album as far as units earned.
This is Rod Wave's third top 10 album. His debut album, Ghetto Gospel in 2019, debuted at No. 14 on the Billboard 200 chart before peaking at No. 10. He followed up a year ago with Pray 4 Love, which debuted at No. 2 with 72,000 EAU. The new album comes just months after Wave called out and eventually made up with his label, Alamo Records. With the No. 1 debut, Wave knocks Justin Bieber's Justice album into second place. JB's new LP had reigned atop the chart for two weeks. SoulFly is only the second hip-hop album to debut at No. 1 this year, following Playboi Carti's Whole Lotta Red, which occupied the spot for one week in January.
Rod Wave's stock is definitely rising as he becomes a staple in the emo trap subgenre. He will be heading out on tour starting this spring in support of the new LP.
Other hip-hop artists in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart include NF (Clouds (The Mixtape), No. 3), The Weeknd (The Highlights, No. 6), Pop Smoke (Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon, No. 7) and Young Dolph and Key Glock, (Dum and Dummer 2, No. 8).
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