From Drake to Eminem: Inside Hip-Hop’s Biggest Album Debuts Ever

21 May 2026, 15:48 | Updated: 21 May 2026, 17:41

Drake dropping ‘Iceman’ with his surprise albums ‘Habibti’ and ‘Maid of Honour’ has raised the discussion of some of the biggest album rollouts in the history of hip-hop. From the greats of Eminem and Dr.Dre to the modern G.O.A.T.S., what are some of the biggest album successes?

Drake is considered one of the G.O.A.T.S of album promotion, most recently building an ice sculpture in the centre of Toronto for his new album ‘Iceman’, but there is a long history of dramatic and huge album releases.

From surprise drops to arena-wide listening parties, some artists are simply experts in creating hype around their albums.

Following the introduction of streaming, which has changed the game, it can become trickier to assess the impact of albums based on streams alone, but it definitely makes the record-sales pre-2016 far more impressive.

So, what are the most successful hip-hop albums in history? And who had the biggest first week?

Here is the full list.

Eminem – ‘The Marshall Mathers LP’

Eminem dropped his sophomore album ‘The Marshall Mathers LP’ on May 23rd, 2000.

It made history, shattering sales records to become the fastest-selling solo album in US history, which has since been beaten by Adele.

But at the time, no other rap album had come close to the sales of Eminem’s, and it was this release that really changed the game.

Selling over 1.76 million copies in its first week, it shifted mainstream music from pop to rap.

Eminem – ‘The Eminem Show’

Released just 2 years after the success of his sophomore album, ‘The Eminem Show’ dropped on May 26th 2002.

Quickly becoming the best-selling album of the year worldwide, this album solidified Eminem’s legacy.

It sold over 1.3 million copies in its first week of sales, also becoming the first album in history to debut at No. 1 with only a single day of sales!

50 Cent – ‘The Massacre’

50 Cent returned with his second album, ‘The Massacre, ’ with fans highly anticipating the project, which was released in March 2005.

With hits ‘Candy Shop’ and ‘Just a Lil Bit,’ the record was a huge success.

Despite bootleg copies circulating days before its release, potentially stunting some sales, it sold over 1.15 million copies in its first week.

Drake – ‘Views’

Perhaps the rapper’s biggest album ever, ‘Views,’ changed the game, especially with how successful it was in a streaming era, released in April 2016.

With lead single ‘One Dance’ holding the world record for the first single on Spotify to hit 1 billion streams, it wasn’t just strategic marketing that helped it gain stardom.

Drake dropped it as part of an exclusive deal with the new platform Apple Music, causing fans to sign up to the streaming site in order to hear the exclusive drop.Views sold over 1 million copies in its first week.

Lil Wayne – ‘Tha Carter III’

At the start of Young Money’s fame, Lil Wayne dropped the iconic ‘Tha Carter’ in June 2008.

At the time, it became the fastest-selling album in the US and became the first ever hip-hop album to sell over 1 million copies since 50 Cent’s ‘The Massacre’.

Featuring ‘Lolipop’ and ‘A Milli’, the album sold just over 1 million copies in its first week.

Drake – ‘Scorpion’

‘Scorpion’ was released in 2018, the year after Drake had completely dominated the charts with songs ‘God’s Plan’ and ‘Nice for What’.

The album was also dropped amid his infamous beef with rapper Pusha T, which pushed his name to the headlines, and had fans intrigued as to what he had to say.

It switched the heavy-charged beef vibe to a trendy viral album, with hits like ‘In My Feelings’ pushing Drake further into the pop world and setting the standards for using social media trends as promo.

‘Scorpion’ sold 731,000 units in its first week.

The Notorious B.I.G. – ‘Life After Death’

‘Life After Death’ was the first album dropped following the tragic death of Biggie, released in March 1997, just 16 days after he was fatally killed.

Only releasing 2 albums in his career, ignoring the posthumous album, the world was hooked on the rapper and the surrounding controversy.

It included massive hit singles ‘Hypnotize’ and ‘Mo Money Mo Problems,’ which live on as some of the most iconic hip-hop songs of all time.

The album sold 685,000 copies in its first week.