BURBANK, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 09: Rapper Kendrick Lamar speaks onstage during the 2016 MTV Movie Awards at Warner Bros. Studios on April 9, 2016 in Burbank, California. MTV Movie Awards airs April 10, 2016 at 8pm ET/PT. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for MTV)
Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers album has collected yet another accolade, becoming the first rap album from 2022 to cross one billion streams on Spotify.
Chart Data announced the achievement on Tuesday (August 30). The only project to match Kendrick’s streaming output in the R&B realm is The Weeknd’s Dawn FM, which hit a billion streams in March and then surpassed two billion streams earlier this month.
Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers has been powered on Spotify by top tracks like “N95” (128,570,543 global streams), “Die Hard” (99,497,158 global streams) and “Rich Spirit” (47,780,629 global streams).
Chart Data also noted that K. Dot’s fifth studio album has sold over 500,000 units, but it has yet to be certified gold by the RIAA. The project could surpass one million sales by the end of 2022.
Released on May 13, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 295,000 total album-equivalent units in its first week — the biggest debut for a rap album this year.
