No Number Ones: Is Gucci Mane the biggest rapper to never have a No. 1 albums to date are (to no one’s surprise): RankĭJRob research based on data from the Billboard 200 charts (1987 – 2021) Rap Leaderboard: The artists with the most No. JAY-Z is still the leader with 14 Number One albums However, albums that only contain a small percentage of rap or hip-hop songs are excluded – as are R&B or pop albums in which rap artists mainly serve in featured roles. Soundtrack albums that are predominantly hip-hop in nature are included in this historic recap. (Note: the count does NOT represent the total album output of any artist, just the running count of those that have reached #1 on the Billboard 200.) The albums below are listed in chronological order by title, artist and the chart date they first reached Number One, along with a running count of the number of #1 albums for the artist. More reading: These femcees have never had a No. (Clockwise from top left): Cardi B, Nicki Minaj, Lauryn Hill, Eve and Foxy Brown are the only female rappers to have achieved No.
In the 34 years since the Beasties’ triumph, 237 albums that qualify as rap/hip-hop have topped the chart, and djrobblog has tallied all of them right here. Hip-Hop Milestone: Drake gets hip-hop’s 200th No. But it wasn’t long before artists like NWA, Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G.
Not surprisingly, the Beasties’ rock-leaning brand of rap was the first to top Billboard’s main album chart. Cool J and Beastie Boys made it more palatable to suburban (white) teenagers. Rap music first appeared in commercial recordings and on the Billboard charts in the late 1970s, but didn’t cross into the mainstream until nearly a decade later when icons like Run-DMC, L.L. You won’t find a more complete and accurate listing of rap/hip-hop albums that have topped the album chart anywhere but here on djrobblog. Here’s an exclusive listing of all 237 rap and hip-hop albums that have reached Number One on the Billboard 200, from the first one in March 1987, the Beastie Boys’ Licensed To Ill, to the most recent as of the chart dated Octo( Punk by Youngboy Never Broke Again). Between them, they’ve had 44 Number One albums. Rap legends from top left (clockwise): Drake, Kanye West, Eminem and Jay-Z.