2016

Future — Evol (“Low Life”) 1 week

Kendrick Lamar —untitled unmastered. (“untitled 07 | levitate”) 1 week

Kanye West — The Life of Pablo (“Famous”) 1 week

Drake — Views (“One Dance”) 13 weeks

DJ Khaled — Major Key (“For Free”) 1 week

Travis Scott — Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight (“Pick Up The Phone”) 1 week

Jeezy — Trap Or Die 3 (“Let Em Know”) 1 week

J Cole — 4 Your Eyez Only 1 week (“Deja Vu”) 1 week

ATCQ — We Got It From Here…Thank You For Your Service (“We The People”) 1 week

Suicide Squad: The Album (“Sucker For Pain”) 2 weeks

The Hamilton Mixtape (“Satisfied”) 1 week

Future — Evol

Kendrick Lamar — untitled unmastered.

Kanye West — The Life Of Pablo

Drake — Views

DJ Khaled — Major Key

Travis Scott — Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight

Jeezy — Trap Or Die 3

J Cole — 4 Your Eyez Only

Future drops his third #1 album in 2 years, solidifying himself as the king of the autotune rapper sub-genre.

After Kendrick Lamar performs at the Grammys, LeBron James tweets Top Dawg Entertainment to release his untitled tracks. So they do.

Kanye releases his album via Tidal, streaming and downloads. No physical copies are available. He updates the album with altered and new tracks a few times. His new musical direction is heavily Future-influenced. GOOD Music’s Future clone Desiigner guests on “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 2”. The album tour is a disaster as Kanye comes out as a Trump supporter, rants and raves, cuts shows short and cancels the rest of the tour. He is later hospitalized.

Views makes a big splash. Like Lauryn Hill’s debut, it’s more R&B-heavy than expected. Regardless, no rap album (at this point we use that term loosely) has been at #1 longer other than Please Hammer Don’t Hurt Em. Since signing with Young Money, Drake has released 6 albums, with 2 being classified as “mixtapes”. All 6 have gone #1. He moves ahead of 2Pac, Rick Ross & DMX — who all have 5 — into a tie with Kanye West & Nas. Eminem (8) and Jay-Z (13) are the only rappers with more #1's.

DJ Khaled makes all-star compilations, and the stars have gotten brighter over time. The 14 tracks on his 9th album feature 19 artists that have already released #1 albums. Travis Scott becomes the 20th shortly afterwards. Kid Cudi guests for a worthy sequel to his 2008 hit “Day ’N’ Nite”.

Jeezy gets his 3rd #1, his first in 8 years. The first 2 installments of the Trap Or Die series were classified as mixtapes. J Cole joins DMX and Drake as the only rappers whose first 4 albums hit #1. He kicks Kanye while he’s down on “False Prophets”, but it doesn’t make the final cut.

ATCQ — Thank You For Your Service…We Got It From Here

A Tribe Called Quest’s reunion album comes out just months after Phife Dawg’s passing (RIP). It is their second #1 album, and comes a full 20 years after their first. Guests include contemporaries like Busta Rhymes and new schoolers like Kendrick Lamar.

Suicide Squad Soundtrack

The Hamilton Mixtape

Suicide Squad’s gross is over $700 million in theaters. It has the most successful soundtrack of the year. About half of it includes rap, with the rest being pop, R&B and rock. It counts!

“Hamilton” is the show on Broadway. An all-star cast from Nas & Common to Sia & Kelly Clarkson features alongside Lin-Manuel Miranda. Rap dominates yet another area of the arts. The record of 11 #1 rap albums (2004, 2015) is tied again. It don’t stop!