The album debuted at No. 1, but its songs failed to overcome Kendrick Lamar’s hold on the Hot 100.
It’s fair to say that Drake had a lot riding on $ome $exy $ongs 4 U, his just-released collaboration with PARTYNEXTDOOR. The project is his first full-length since Kendrick Lamar dropped “Not Like Us,” the diss track that was so successful — it has sold millions of copies, won five Grammys, and was the marquee song at Lamar’s Super Bowl performance — that many reasonable people have wondered if Drake could come back from it.
The first week sales of $ome $exy $ongs 4 U were a mixed bag for the OVO camp. First, the good news: it debuted at No. 1 with 246,000 equivalent units sold, dethroning Lamar’s GNX. That marks PND’s first-ever No.1 album and Drake’s 14th, tying him as a solo act with JAY-Z and Taylor Swift.
On the singles front, however, $$$4U was unable to overcome Lamar’s continued success. None of the album’s songs cracked the top 5, with “Gimmie A Hug” entering at No. 6 and “Nokia” at No. 10. Lamar holds 4 of the chart’s 5 top songs: the SZA-featuring “Luther” (No. 1), “Not Like Us” (No. 2), “TV Off” (No. 4) and “Squabble Up” (No. 5).
In other Drake news, he’s still suing Universal Music Group over the release and distribution of “Not Like Us.” According to HipHopDX, UMG’s attorneys filed a motion to postpone an April 2 hearing and claimed Drake “agreed to remove key allegations from his complaint.”