Congratulations to J. Cole! The rapper has garnered his first No. 1 album debut on the Billboard 200. In fact, Forest Hills Drive is the biggest album debut of 2014. And, that’s pretty impressive considering we’re just sixteen days away from the new year.
The North Carolina rapper takes the top spot from Taylor Swift’s 1989 by selling 371,000 copies in his first week. 2014 Forest Hills Drive marks Cole’s biggest opening week and the highest-selling debut of any hip-hop album in 2014, beating Rick Ross’ Mastermind (179,000).
His sophomore album Born Sinner debuted at No. 2 in June 2013 with 297,000 copies.
Cole announced the album less than a month before release and without any singles and little promotion. It was streamed 15.7 million times in one week on Spotify, setting an all-time record in the U.S.
Of his accomplishment, Cole tweeted the below message to his fans…
The rapper also recently sat down with radio personality, Angie Martinez, to speak on the album release and being conscious of the kind of message he puts forth. You may listen to the full interview below.
