Pop Smoke’s ‘Shoot For The Stars Aim For The Moon’ Breaks New Chart Records
The posthumous LP marks the longest-running No.1 Hip Hop/R&B LP since 1990.
Pop Smoke’s posthumous debut album, Shoot For The Stars Aim For The Moon continues to live up to its title. The best-selling release officially stands as the longest-running album to sit atop Billboard’s Hip Hop/R&B chart since 1990. Currently, the album is tied with Michael Jackson’s Bad (1987) and is on track to tie with Prince’s Purple Rain (1984) next week.
Shoot For The Stars Aim For The Moon also continues to reign at No.1 on the Top Rap Albums chart and at No.2 on the Billboard 200, having spent a whopping 32 weeks in the Top 5. Abroad, the album was a massive success, landing at No.1 in the UK, Australia, Canada, and Ireland, among other territories.
Helping to propel the LP’s success were the many singles off the album, including the platinum-certified “Hello,” “Got It On Me,” and “Something Special.” The album also included three 2x platinum tracks (“Mood Swings,” “The Woo,” and “What You Know About Love”), one 3x platinum song (the Grammy-nominated “Dior”), and the 4x platinum “For The Night.”
The widely-acclaimed album (which ranked on year-end charts by Billboard, Complex, the New York Times, and XXL, among others) was released in July, timed with what would have been the artist’s 21st birthday. Tragically, Pop Smoke (born Bashar Barakah Jackson) was killed during a home invasion in February, months before he could enjoy the success of his debut.
Following the artist’s death, 50 Cent volunteered to executive produce the unfinished album, bringing in such esteemed guests as Drake, Roddy Ricch, Future, and Lil Baby to contribute to the project. Months earlier, the elder rapper gave his blessing to the younger artist, who wanted to borrow from 50’s tracks “Many Men” and “Candy Shop.” 50 can also be heard on single “The Woo.”
Most recently, Pop Smoke’s fans had the opportunity to hear new music in the form of “AP,” a single off the soundtrack to BOOGIE, in which the rapper also starred.
The Eddie Huang-directed drama, which wrapped filming in 2019, premiered on March 5. The film chronicles the story of an aspiring basketball player, Alfred “Boogie” Chin (Taylor Takahashi), who must balance his own dreams with those of his parents. Pop Smoke plays Chin’s rival, Monk, and provided several songs to the soundtrack.
Listen to Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon here.
