I think you have a point that all projects released through a major label are not equal and require further nuance. Each agreement, with multiple commitments and non-commitment releases, have significantly different marketing budgets.

The artist you bring up had a huge increase in his marketing budget starting with last year’s two release. There’s no coincidence that it is the highest selling 2024 rap album. The same way there’s no coincidence that $$$ tracks are charting the way they should be compared to 100Gigs songs being left out to dry last summer. I think we both get this, even though I assume you’re not privy to the hard numbers behind these projects.

Your suggestion that it should be number of projects available on streaming doesn’t hold water for similar reasons - the marketing budget for each album drives the initial success of the record. Kendrick’s earlier releases on streaming did not get the same marketing budget as other projects later in his career. Many of Future’s mixtapes on streaming were not counted towards his agreement and did not get the same marketing support. Dark Lane Demo Tapes dropped in the middle of Covid when traditional marketing wasn’t available no matter the budget. By your criteria, should we also count The Come Up, The Warm Up, and FNL for Cole then?

I know you understand the role of marketing in a record’s success because of your UMG lawsuit thread posts. I think you would take that same consideration when looking at a large list like this.

Marketing doesn't factor into anything you're saying. Comeback Season wouldn't count for Drake simply because it isn't available on streaming. So Far Gone's release on streaming, Care Package and Dark Lane Demo Tapes weren't promoted nearly as much as Drake's albums are but I still counted them towards his tally.

Again, this list has nothing to do with the initial push an album gets or not. As long as an album is available on streaming, people can run its numbers up, marketing or not. The interest in doing so just has to be there.

If enough Kendrick fans streamed Section.80 and Overly Dedicated next week, both albums would chart. Those albums aren't charting because enough people aren't streaming them. That's really all there is to it.

Beware, viewers! These are the types of takes you have when you think charts tell the whole story!

For someone who runs the charts thread, you sure are selective and willing to move the goal posts for your own agenda.

We can’t ignore that So Far Gone was re-released by UMG later in 2009 with an another marketing push after the tracks organically caught on. Do you genuinely believe the marketing budget for the Best I Ever Had mv didn’t have any impact on So Far Gone continuing to chart for more weeks?

If not, we can’t have a good faith discussion about criteria when you’re dismissing the largest correlation of any albums charting, which is marketing. There’s no need to even dig up posts of your arguments for why individual Drake tracks fell off, which would show clear contradiction to this.

I'm referring to the So Far Gone re-release in 2009. That's the So Far Gone I counted for Drake, as that's the version available to stream currently, not the EP from September 2009.

Again, you have to stop being obtuse. The streaming era changed everything. Now, the game being paid is strictly an interest game. Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers re-entered the Billboard 200 for a few weeks during the beef and after the Super Bowl halftime show but before then, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers stopped charting after 70 weeks. It's already on its way out of the Billboard 200 again. Why? Wasn't it massively promoted by Kendrick's label when it dropped? Then why isn't it staying on the charts as steadily as GKMC or DAMN?

The answer is interest. Enough people simply aren't as interested in streaming Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers as they are streaming GKMC/DAMN. That's it. It's not because one album was promoted and another wasn't so that argument you're making doesn't work.

If you still don't get what I'm saying then that's fine. Lets just agree to disagree.

I understand what you’re saying about interest. Interest and marketing aren’t mutually exclusive and go hand in hand. The SB was “free” non-traditional marketing that generated public interest for Kendrick’s discography. Not only did MMBTS re-enter the charts after the SB, but Drake’s albums did too. You can say that it was because it was on the eve of $$$ release or because he was a big topic of the performance. I say it’s a combination of both, but can be argued either way. However, both are driven by marketing, whether you accept it or not.

I’m not following why you are trying to narrow conversation to streaming counts on the charts when the list you proposed is broader than that. So Far Gone was re-released on stream on its 10th anniversary in 2019, but had already had weeks that is included on the list you posted.

If your point is that people are more interested in GKMC and Take Care than MMBTS and Care Package based on chart performance, then we shifted into another topic.

If you think that music listeners are motivated to stream music purely on an unaffected, instinctual interest, I find it highly ironic I’m the one being obtuse here.

Greta van Fleet.
Nickelback.
Imagine Dragons.

The worst bands I've heard.

Drake was already charting 8 albums weekly before the halftime performance.

I'm not ignoring the place of marketing but you're acting like marketing is all it takes. There are albums marketed heavily that flop. Same with movies. Ultimately, interest in a thing is what drives numbers, regardless of what marketing has been put in place.

f*** billboard

You are truly the most disingenuous user on this site by far

You were the same person predicting a poor performance for $$4U because it was a “PARTYNEXTDOOR album” and the marketing would be affected by that

Now you on here tryna say interest is all that matters and marketing doesn’t matter

LMAOO

Caucasian people do not have good music taste a lot of the time

His peak was over years before the streaming era. Streaming changed everything

Great list and makes sense who is #1

exclusive albums, inconsistent reporting, and timing makes a lot of these numbers similar to pre and post nba merger numbers. now an album can stay on billboard because a couple songs are trending or stuck around in playlists but before people had to actually buy albums for it to stay on billboard you can’t compare it

exactly

iTunes pre-Streaming era numbers were underreported due to piracy

imagine wayne and gucci in the mid 00’s if all those tapes counted on billboard. now a mixtape is basically like an album the label knows won’t perform well enough to be an album

You’re skirting around my point and talked yourself into a corner by pushing the notion that organic fan interest outweighs major label marketing as the driving force for chart longevity.

Without revealing my own credentials, I’ll say that you’re underestimating the correlation between marketing budgets and sustained billboard charting, even for established artists like your fave, Drake.

I would recommend sticking to reporting the charts and leaving the discourse around the numbers to more holistic-thinking, unbiased fans.

You really don't know what you're talking about and you just exposed that with this post. It's silly to think marketing is what's responsible for albums charting for years and years, especially when it's a known thing that most labels move on from marketing an album after its release week.

After that, it's on the people who will keep engaging with the album. Yes, performing songs off the album counts as promotion but most artists will only perform their albums at their own concerts, made up of their own fans who were always going to support the albums anyways.

You're delusional if you think an album that charts for 600 weeks did so because of marketing from a record label and not because there are songs on the album that people keep coming back to regardless.

But hey, it's not a sin to be wrong. Enjoy the rest of your day.

Once again, you’ve failed to comprehend the core of the argument. First, you just gave a example of an single album’s path to charting success, when we’ve been discussing an artist’s collection of album, which involves many more variables. I'm arguing that marketing is the driving force and you’re being an idealist if you think that once an artist has established a large fan base, their past albums on DSPs, don’t benefit from label marketing.

To enlighten you a bit, in terms of the label not "marketing" an album after certain time (usually 18 months for the majors), the album shifts to a becoming a catalog release. SOS is technically a catalog release under Sony (RCA), yet is still being supported by the label via Deluxe marketing, and adding to SZA’s chart tally.

That’s only one example that shows that you’re on the other side of the curtain doing mental gymnastics for your little fan agenda. You have potential, but you're not there yet. GL

I was not expecting tinashe to be so high up on this list

Sis catching strays, and for what exactly.

Actually, you can. For instance, Take Care charted for almost 200 weeks before streaming started counting towards its totals.

And it takes a lot to keep an album on the charts for YEARS. There are albums with multiple hit records that aren't charting right now. A quick example is Justin Bieber's "Purpose" album.

Interestingly enough, he's currently charting 2 albums weekly, including Tha Carter 3.