(September 23, 2020). The rapper known as YoungBoy Never Broke Again, or NBA YoungBoy for short, may not be forever young, but he is certainly making a case for never being broke again.
The 20-year-old rapper out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana has the Number One album on the latest Billboard chart with his new 21-song release, simply titled Top.
By Top doing just that to the charts this week, YoungBoy gets his third No. 1 album – all in just the past eleven months, following AI YoungBoy 2, which bowed at No. 1 on the chart dated Oct. 26, 2019, and 38 Baby 2, which did the same on May 9, 2020.
The rapid pace with which NBA YoungBoy has secured his three Number Ones is a chart feat in and of itself. Only the K-pop group BTS and trap superstar Future have accomplished that feat in less than a year in recent times. The seven-member BTS did it with three No. 1 albums between 2018-19 and Future had three in just over six months during 2015-16.
But equally as impressive is the elite list of rappers that YoungBoy joins by getting his third No. 1. Only 22 hip-hop artists before him have had at least three No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200, including one – Big Sean – who just joined the list last week.
All of the names on the list are certainly superstars – and arguably legends – of hip-hop, so being among them is a noteworthy accomplishment…one that YoungBoy and his fans – or any haters for that matter – should not take lightly.
Of course, when you consider YoungBoy has fathered five kids – with a sixth on the way – all before the age of 21, which the rapper turns in October, there’s certainly enough incentive to continue his prolific album-release schedule. Since 2015, when he was just fifteen years old, YoungBoy has released nearly two dozen album-mixtape-EPs, with fifteen of them charting on the Billboard 200 since August 2017 – another amazing feat.
Even more amazing is the fact that YoungBoy, who is also known (unfortunately) for his many arrests and incarcerations for violent crimes, released another album during the past twelve months. That mixtape, called Still Flexin, Still Steppin, peaked at No. 2 in March.
So all four of the projects he’s released since last October have either reached No. 1 or No. 2, and all four were presumably recorded from the rapper’s home since he is currently serving a 14-month house-arrest sentence (beginning September 2019).
Check out this tally of the now 23 hip-hop artists with at least three No. 1 albums (or EPs or mixtapes) on the Billboard 200 chart, listed in chronological order of when they were achieved, followed by the date when the third No. 1 occurred and the total number of No. 1 albums the artist has achieved to date.
| Artist | Third No. 1 album | Date of 3rd No. 1 | Total No. 1 albums |
| 2Pac | The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory – Makaveli | 11/23/1996 | 5 |
| Beastie Boys | Hello Nasty | 08/01/1998 | 5 |
| Nas | I Am… | 04/24/1999 | 6 |
| DMX | …And Then There Was X | 01/08/2000 | 5 |
| Jay-Z | The Dynasty Roc La Familia (2000 – ) | 11/18/2000 | 14 |
| Nelly | Suit | 10/02/2004 | 3 |
| Eminem | Encore | 11/27/2004 | 10 |
| Ludacris | Release Therapy | 10/14/2006 | 4 |
| The Notorious B.I.G. | Greatest Hits | 03/24/2007 | 3 |
| T.I. | Paper Trail | 10/18/2008 | 3 |
| Kanye West | 808s & Heartbreak | 12/13/2008 | 9 |
| Rick Ross | Deeper Than Rap | 05/09/2009 | 5 |
| The Game | The R.E.D. Album | 09/10/2011 | 3 |
| Lil Wayne | Tha Carter IV | 09/17/2011 | 5 |
| Drake | Nothing Was The Same | 10/12/2013 | 9 |
| J. Cole | 2014 Forest Hills Drive | 12/27/2014 | 5 |
| Future | Evol | 02/27/2016 | 7 |
| Jeezy | Trap Or Die 3 | 11/19/2016 | 3 |
| Kendrick Lamar | DAMN. | 05/06/2017 | 3 |
| Logic | Confessions of a Dangerous Mind | 05/25/2019 | 3 |
| Travis Scott | JackBoys – JackBoys/ Travis Scott | 01/11/2020 | 3 |
| Big Sean | Detroit2 | 09/19/2020 | 3 |
| NBA YoungBoy | Top | 09/26/2020 | 3 |
Read more: See this exclusive tally of all the hip-hop albums that have topped the Billboard 200.
DJRob
DJRob is a freelance blogger from Chicago who covers R&B, hip-hop, pop and rock genres – plus lots of music news and current stuff! You can follow him on Twitter @djrobblog.
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