Hip Hop Dose Staff
Anderson .Paak and Cordae have earned their first No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Rap Albums chart as co-leads with Heavy Is the Crown. The 11-track collaboration debuted at the top of the genre chart after its October 23 release, giving both artists a new career milestone.
The album also opened at No. 2 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and No. 11 on the Billboard 200. That distinction matters: Heavy Is the Crown is a No. 1 on the Top Rap Albums chart, not a No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard 200. Still, its Billboard 200 position makes it Cordae’s highest-charting album to date.
For the October 23–29 tracking week, Heavy Is the Crown earned 30,000 equivalent album units in the United States, according to Billboard. The total comprised 19,000 album sales and 11,000 streaming-equivalent units, with a negligible amount from track-equivalent sales.
A first No. 1 for both artists
The chart-topper builds on years of individual success, but neither artist had previously reached the summit of Top Rap Albums. Cordae’s previous best on the chart was No. 4 with From a Birds Eye View, released in 2022. Anderson .Paak’s previous peak was No. 3 with Yes Lawd!, his 2016 project with producer Knxwledge as NxWorries.
.Paak has reached No. 1 on the broader Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart before. He did so as one half of Silk Sonic, the duo with Bruno Mars, whose album An Evening With Silk Sonic debuted at the top of that ranking. That earlier achievement, however, was on a different chart and with a different project. Heavy Is the Crown marks his first No. 1 on Top Rap Albums.
The pair’s combined showing on the Billboard 200 gives Cordae a separate personal high. His earlier albums include The Lost Boy, which reached No. 6, and From a Birds Eye View, which peaked at No. 13 on the all-genre chart. The new album’s No. 11 debut moves one place higher than his previous best.
Cordae acknowledged the distance behind the achievement in a post on X: “[Eight] years in of doing music professionally, 14 years since my first mixtape. Good things take time ! Grateful for the journey. Thank you Jesus ! Thank Yall ! Still more work to do !”
A collaboration developed over seven years
The connection between the artists began with “RNP,” a track on Cordae’s Grammy-nominated 2019 debut, The Lost Boy. The J. Cole-produced song paired Cordae’s tightly delivered verses with .Paak’s vocals and became an early point of connection between their catalogs.
They reunited for “Two Tens” in 2023 and “Summer Drop” in 2024, extending a partnership that had previously appeared through individual releases. Heavy Is the Crown is the first full-length album billed to both artists as co-leads.
The new project’s production credits include J. Cole, 9th Wonder, Swizz Beatz and Conductor Williams. Those names span distinct approaches to hip-hop production, while the record’s shared billing puts the two performers’ collaboration at its center. The album’s 11 tracks include “Airbender,” “A Good Day,” “Crown” and “Godfather II.”
Its cover artwork also draws on a familiar comedy reference, borrowing from the 2008 film Step Brothers. The visual nod accompanies a project whose title and presentation frame the release around the two artists as a team, rather than as a guest appearance on one another’s solo albums.
“Airbender” leads the album’s streaming activity
“Airbender” was the most-streamed track from the album during its opening week, earning 2.4 million official U.S. on-demand streams. The song debuted at No. 21 on Billboard’s Hot Rap Songs chart.
That entry marked .Paak’s first appearance on Hot Rap Songs. Cordae earned his fourth, following earlier chart appearances including “Killer,” his collaboration with Jack Harlow and Eminem, and later tracks with NF and Juice WRLD.
The song’s performance provides a track-level marker alongside the album’s chart result. While Heavy Is the Crown claimed the No. 1 position on Top Rap Albums, “Airbender” became its first-week leader among the project’s songs by streaming volume and placed on a separate singles chart.
What the chart result means
Top Rap Albums ranks albums classified within the rap genre, while the Billboard 200 compares albums and equivalent units across genres. The two rankings measure different competitive fields, so a No. 1 debut on the rap chart does not mean an album led the Billboard 200.
For Cordae and .Paak, the distinction makes the milestone specific: Heavy Is the Crown is their first Top Rap Albums chart-topper, while its No. 11 Billboard 200 debut gives Cordae his highest position on that chart. Its No. 2 placement on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums adds another strong showing across Billboard’s genre rankings.
The chart result also gives the seven-year creative relationship a new point of reference. “RNP” introduced their chemistry on Cordae’s debut; “Two Tens” and “Summer Drop” sustained the connection; and Heavy Is the Crown brought the pairing into a full album. The project’s first-week performance now adds a shared chart milestone to that history.
