It’s official: Kendrick Lamar has had his best year since 2017, at least numbers-wise. According to streaming data tracker Luminate, GNX sold 319K album-equivalent units first week, making it officially his fifth No. 1 album. Kendrick Lamar’s GNX was also the most streamed R&B or hip-hop album in its first week in 2024 with around 380 million plays. GNX also had the second-biggest debut streaming week of 2024, only after Taylor Swift’s THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT. GNX is a massive success, but where does his latest album rank among the rest of his albums? We have ranked them all.
6. Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers
Before his and Drake’s beef started in 2024, he was still enjoying the success of Mr. Morale that he released summer of 2022. This album was Lamar’s first since 2017 and its commercial success showed that the people definitely missed Kendrick after a half-decade. The issue was this is one of the few Kendrick album’s to come and go. Didn’t really have a standout hit song or even a radio hit, and once the tour ended, the hype behind this album did too.
Standout tracks: “We Cry Together” ft. Taylour Paige, “Rich,” “N95”
5. To Pimp A Butterfly
To Pimp A Butterfly was the album that catapulted Kendrick into superstardom. At the time, especially in the Black community, police brutality and gun violence were running wild and Kendrick released a conscious album to speak on those issues and a few others plaguing our people. He made conscious rap cool, something so many other artists tried and failed at. This was the album that made Kendrick the people’s champ, a label he still wears proudly among rappers.
Standout Tracks: “Alright” “King Kunte,” “Hood Politics”
4. GNX
Lamar’s latest album is great, but it is not in his top three. On GNX, Kendrick went back to his roots and embraced the West Coast that has shown him so much love this year. He made another West Coast banger with “squabble up” which should also top the Billboard Hot 100 this week. He worked with exclusively west coast producers and upcoming artists, giving some of these artists the biggest looks of their career thus far. He even listened to his fans and finally started making music with SZA again. Kendrick closed out his heavy-hitting year with a solid album that will hold us down through the inevitable Kendrick disappearance.
Standout tracks: “man at the garden,” “luther” ft. SZA, and “dodger blue”
3. Good Kid Mad City
good kid, m.A.A.d city is the last Lamar album not to go No. 1 but it might have stronger case than any to have reached the top of the charts. GKMC was the album Lamar pulled it all together; he gives us the storytelling we’ve grown to love from him. He gives us concious rap that he has become known for. And he even gave us his first few radio hits, or at least proved to the world that he can make ‘popular’ music if he is forced to.
Standout tracks: “Real” ft. Anna Wise, “Now or Never” ft. Mary J. Blige, “Swimming Pools,” and “Poetic Justice” ft. Drake
2. Section. 80
Some people will tell you Kendrick Lamar’s first ever project is arguably his best. Section. 80 is the album that started the Tupac comparisons and how could you not see them? West Coast kid who deals with his trauma by painting pictures on beats. He showed love to one of his favorite Tupac songs “Brenda’s Got A Baby” by creating a sequel on his track “Keisha’s Song” and rapped about growing up during the crack era on “Ronald Reagan Era.” On his debut album he showed he could story tell with the best of them, a skill he’s only improved on since.
Standout Tracks: “HiiiiPower,” “Kush & Corinthians,” ft. BJ The Chicago Kid, and “A.D.H.D.”
1. DAMN
Lamar’s best album is without a doubt DAMN. DAMN had it all; The radio hits are there in “ELEMENT” and “DNA.” He brought Rihanna out of hiding with “LOYALTY” and he even addressed his Fox News hater on “Yah.” DAMN had no misses and it cemented Lamar as one of the GOATs of this era. Topping GKMC and Section. 80 would not be an easy task but with DAMN he did so and in doing so delivered a truly classic album.
Standout tracks: “Yah,” “LOVE” ft. Zacari, “GOD,” and “FEAR.”
