The numbers are steady coming in for Kendrick Lamar’s fifth studio album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers. U.S. sales are showing 295,500 equivalent album units for the week ending May 19, according to Luminate.
Released on May 13, the album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart, making it the fourth album to do so for Lamar. Other albums that made the rank include Lamar’s 2017 release DAMN., 2015’s To Pimp A Butterfly, and 2012′s Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City. To date, DAMN., which stayed on the Billboard 200 chart for four weeks, is Lamar’s highest selling album with a total of 4.07 million units earned.
Check Out The MouthSoap’s Review Of ‘Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers’:
Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, the first album from Lamar in the last five years besides his contribution to the 2018 Black Panther soundtrack, beat out some of the most anticipated debuts of 2022, including Future’s I Never Liked You, at 222,000 equivalent album units, and Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti, at 274,000 equivalent album units.
There wasn’t much formal promotion for this release. Of course, Lamar’s name has been buzzing over the years with the previous drops of Kanye West, Drake, J. Cole, and others named as the greats of hip hop for this era. Then, there was the sudden news of Lamar leaving his day one record label Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE), and his infamous Super Bowl performance with Dr. Dre at Inglewood’s newly minted SoFi Stadium.
The drop of the album was proceeded by the surprise release of part five of the popular anthology “The Heart.” It was the first video Lamar released on his YouTube channel in four years since his music video “All The Stars,” featuring SZA. “The Heart Part 5,” which is not on the album, amassed over 30 million views within two weeks.
Lamar also dropped the music video for “N95” from Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, but it was the only single promotion from the album, coming out after the album’s release. Considering all, 295,500 is not a number to dismiss.
Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers is currently available on all streaming platforms, including Apple Music and YouTube.
