Kendrick Lamar's 'To Pimp a Butterfly' to Debut at No. 1 on Album Charts

If Kendrick Lamar was at all worried that the new tone undertaken in his latest album To Pimp a Butterfly might not sit well with “mainstream” audiences, the Compton rapper can certainly breathe easy now that his second studio album is set to hit number 1 on the album charts. Lamar’s album, with its surprise early release, already made history by breaking Spotify’s one-day streaming record by being played more than 9.6 million times on the site and now, the TDE emcee’s successful release will top Billboard’s Hot 200 album’s chart. In its opening week, To Pimp a Butterfly sold an estimated 318,988 copies, 355,372 total counting streams, beating out Lamar’s first debut album good kid, m.A.A.d city which debuted at the number 2 spot and sold 242,000 copies in its first week. With critics and fans embracing the artist’s new direction, it turns out Kendrick Lamar is going the right direction.