Lil Baby is a star. The rapper has been dropping hits since the late 2010s, and the numbers have proven he has staying power. The critical reception to WHAM has been mixed. Some feel its a pale retread of the rapper’s earlier material. That said, fans have kept listening. The updated first week sales for WHAM are finally in. Lil Baby not only topped the initial projections, but he managed to score his fourth number one album on the Billboard 200. He still has the magic touch, as far as numbers are concerned.
Lil Baby was projected to sell 130K during the first week of WHAM‘s release. DJ Akademiks confirmed it when he tweeted the number on January 7. It was a safe bet, but it turns out that Baby’s fans were even more into the project than expected. WHAM ended up selling 145K units during its first week. It ensured that the rapper finished ahead of reggaeton superstar Bad Bunny. There was speculation for a time, as to whether Lil Baby or Bad Bunny would come out on top. Baby proved victorious, but Bunny’s latest sold a still-impressive 118K units.
Lil Baby Surpassed Initial First Week Projections
WHAM marks the fourth time Lil Baby has topped the Billboard 200. The rapper previously accomplished this feat with My Turn (2020), It’s Only Me (2022), and the Lil Durk collab album The Voice of the Heroes (2021). WHAM is the fourth biggest album of his career in terms of first week sales. My Turn pulled in a solid 197K first week, while Voice of the Heroes pulled and It’s Only Me sold 150K and 216K units during its first week. It’s worth noting, however, that Lil Baby released an extended version of WHAM on January 9, which will give the second week sales a major boost. The rapper is filming a music video for one of the bonus tracks with Future as we speak.
It’s been a good stretch for Lil Baby in terms of charts. Billboard recently ran out a list on the biggest albums of the 21st century. A lot of the usual suspects were there from different genres. When it came to hip hop, however, Lil Baby stood alone. The rapper’s breakthrough album, My Turn, was the only hip hop release to crack the top ten. This means Baby somehow has the biggest rap album of the last two and a half decades.
About The Author
Elias Andrews is a music and entertainment writer for HotNewHipHop. He joined HNHH in 2024 as the lead night shift contributor, which means he covers new music releases on a weekly basis.
In the year since joining, Elias has covered some of the biggest and most turbulent stories in the world of music. He covered the Drake and Kendrick Lamar battle, and the release of the disses “Family Matters” and “Meet the Grahams,” in particular, in real time. He has also detailed the ongoing list of allegations and criminal charges made against Diddy.
Elias’ favorite artists are Andre 3000, MF Doom, pre-808s Kanye West and Tyler, The Creator. He loves L.A. hip-hop but not L.A. sports teams. The first album he ever bought was Big Willie Style by Will Smith, which he maintains is still a pretty good listen.
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