Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly has taken on a new historical context, and that means outside of earning perfect ratings.
Billboard has scaled their 59-year-old archives and determined that the Compton representative’s second major label album is the first No. 1 album with “Pimp” in its title.
The rapper’s album, which was released on March 16 through Top Dawg/Aftermath/Interscope Records, debuted atop the Billboard 200 dated April 4. It’s the first No. 1 for the rapper, who previously topped out at No. 2 on the chart in 2012 with his last studio effort, Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City.
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Previously, the highest charting album with “pimp” somewhere in its title was Pimp C’s Pimpalation, which topped out at No. 3 in 2006. Other notable high-ranking “pimp” sets: Too $hort’s Shorty the Pimp (No. 6 in 1992), JT Money’s Pimpin On Wax (No. 28 in 1999) and Dirty’s Keep It Pimp & Gangsta (No. 63 in 2003).
As for the other unique word in Lamar’s album title, “butterfly,” this is the third go-around for the insect at No. 1. Previous to Lamar, we had No. 1s from Mariah Carey’s Butterfly and Bob Carlisle’s Butterfly Kisses (Shades of Grace) — both in 1997.
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K. Dot’s To Pimp a Butterfly is available now on iTunes.
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Photo: Interscope Records/Dave Free, Retone
