Lil Wayne’s meteoric rise to fame is astounding when one considers his humble beginnings as a teenaged phenom on his native New Orleans recording label Cash Money. Along with five platinum albums and four gold albums over the course of a stellar 13-year career, Lil Wayne can now add a most significant boast to his tally. According to Billboard, the Young Money captain has surpassed rock and roll icon Elvis Presley as the top solo artist of the magazine’s Hot 100 charts.
To be fair, Billboard didn’t start taking notice of the chart numbers until 1958 and Elvis certainly had hits earlier than that time period. From that first year until 2003, the singer amassed 108 placements on the charts. Still, Weezy F. Baby’s achievement is certainly noteworthy considering his status and longevity in the game. Wayne just edged Presley out at 109 – this after Game’s newest single “Celebration” featuring Chris Brown, Tyga and Wiz Khalifa debuted at #82 this week.
The YMCMB camp was certainly in a good mood, this after Lil Wayne celebrated another year of life yesterday. Cash Money boss Birdman tweeted a shout to the birthday boy in honor of his big day. “Hapi BDay. My Son BMJR. Tha realest tha Best Eva Mula Krazy Tunechi.YMCMB,” said Birdman. He also talked up the big news via a statement:
Birdman on Lil Wayne’s Billboard record:
This is a true milestone in Lil Wayne’s career and the legacy of YMCMB. Surpassing Elvis Presley is a testament to Wayne’s creativity and innovation in music over the years. We look forward to 109 more.
Weezy’s manager Cortez Bryant also recognized his artist’s record-breaking moment via Twitter as well. “And my ni- @LilTunechi Surpassed Elvis to break the record for the most songs to hit the Billboard Charts!! Hard work pays off!,” added Bryant.
Because Lil Wayne is a heavily sought after featured artist, it makes sense that he’s the king of the Hot 100 charts considering his drawing power and fan base. Neither Elvis nor Lil Wayne can hold a torch to the “Glee” cast, who own the Hot 100 records with 204 charting hits since 2009.
Congratulations to Lil Wayne!
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Photo: YMCMB
