Kendrick Lamar Breaks Two New Billboard Rap Chart Records
Lamar’s ‘GNX’ album and his SZA collab ‘Luther’ are now the longest-running chart toppers in the history of Billboard’s Top Rap Albums and Hot Rap Songs charts.
Kendrick Lamar has broken two new Billboard chart records this week. The superstar rapper’s latest studio set GNX and his SZA collaboration “Luther” have become the longest-running No. 1s in the history of Billboard’s Top Rap Albums and Hot Rap Songs charts, respectively, on the listings for July 5, 2025.
On last week’s Top Rap Albums, GNX came in at No. 2, but it has now rebounded to capture an unprecedented 22nd week at the peak of the Top Rap Albums chart. In doing so, it usurps the previous titleholder, Pop Smoke’s Shoot For The Stars Aim For The Moon and its 21-week run that ended in April 2021. Prior to that, the title was held by Eminem’s Recovery with 19 weeks at the top of the same chart.
GNX bowed at the top of Billboard’s Top Rap Albums chart dated December 7, 2024, becoming Lamar’s sixth No. 1 success on the chart in the process. Named after the Buick Regal car of the same name, GNX was released on November 22, 2024 and received widespread universal acclaim. Multiple critics hailed it as a successful reimagination of West Coast hip-hop and one of the best albums of 2024, with Stereogum declaring it to be Lamar’s “greatest work” yet.
In addition to the success of GNX, Lamar and SZA’s single “Luther” has also snatched a record-breaking 27th week at No. 1 on the Hot Pop Songs chart. In doing so, “Luther” surpasses the previous record holder – also Kendrick Lamar with “Not Like Us” – which spent 26 weeks at the summit of the same chart in 2024-25. “Luther”s landmark week arrived through a combination of 12.8 million official U.S. streams; 53.1 million in airplay audience and sales from 1,000 downloads.
Regarded as one of the artist’s signature songs, “Luther” was also famously performed live by Lamar and SZA at the Super Bowl LIX halftime show on February 9, 2025.
