J. Cole's 'The Off-Season' Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Chart

J. Cole is back on top of the album charts once again. Over the weekend, his newest album The Off-Season debuted at No. 1 with an impressive 282,000 equivalent album units and 2,000 traditional albums.

So far, Cole’s album is the largest rap album of the year with its new releases more than doubling the first week of Rod Wave’s SoulFly album. According to Billboard, The Off-Season had the biggest week of 2021 for any hip-hop album, as well as the second-biggest overall record for the total of units earned. With its immense success, the album marks J. Cole’s sixth studio album that has reached No. 1 on the charts. The only album of his that has missed the charts has been Cole’s 2016, Forest Hills Drive: Live record, which debuted at No. 71.

Cole’s new album features a total of 12 songs and includes guest vocals from 21 Savage, Morray, Diddy, Lil Baby and many others. In terms of production, Cole has tapped Timbaland, DJ Dahi and Jake One, just to name a few.

Second on the list this week is Nicki Minaj‘s Beam Me Up Scotty mixtape, selling 80,000 equivalent album units earned. This is Minaj’s fifth studio album. Moneybagg Yo‘s A Gangsta’s Pain falls from number one to three, while Dua Lipa‘s Future Nostalgia stays at No. 5.

J. Cole took to Twitter to commemorate the feat. The artist is currently in Rwanda playing professional basketball.

Check out his celebratory Tweet below.

Sending a thank you from Rwanda! #1 album, I appreciate the love, i heard the noise from out here. the off-season means keep pushing yourself, I will do the same. ❤️❤️

— J. Cole (@JColeNC) May 21, 2021

In other music news, Bruno Mars makde history as the first artist with five diamond-certified singles.