Ken Carson became the third artist to earn their first Billboard 200 No. 1 album in 2025 when his More Chaos LP topped the chart on Sunday (April 20).
Carson notched his best week to date, as the set earned 59,500 equivalent album units in the United States in the week ending April 18, according to Luminate. The album was powered by 67.3 million on-demand official streams. With the move to No. 1, Carson replaces his Opium label boss, Playboi Carti, at the summit.
More Chaos was mostly recorded on the road throughout Carson’s 80-date tour. The LP originally boasted 21 tracks free of features, but on release night, Carson excited the Opium faithful when he tacked on one collaboration — which united him with Destroy Lonely and Playboi Carti for the trio’s first song all together, “Off the Meter.”
The 25-year-old has become an emerging star at the forefront of the rage-rap scene that’s taken over the genre in the 2020s. Carson blends a unique mix of punk rock, EDM and hip-hop over distorted production, which has blazed a trail for a new generation coming up in Atlanta.
Even amid his rise, Ken Carson has remained locked in with frequent collaborators on the production side like Starboy, Lil 88, F1LTHY, Outtatown and Lucian.
“I think it plays a lot with being true to yourself,” Carson told PopKiller TV+ of his bond with his diehard fan base. “I feel like people gravitate to things they could relate to and feel other than it being another rapper because there’s a million rappers… You gotta care about everything you do in life, from your clothes to your music to your lifestyle. It’s a different level of being an artist.”
Learn more about Ken Carson’s journey to stardom and a No. 1 album below.
Ken Carson and Lil88 (TM88’s brother) began spending so much time at TM88’s studio that it cut into days they were supposed to be at school. Carson was punished with a six-month stay at a military academy, but only lasted two weeks after being sent home thanks to him breaking rules regarding cell phone use. “When I got home, I just laid on the floor of my mama’s house for a month thinking about what I’m gonna do,” Carson told Pitchfork.
Before he signed with Opium, Ken Carson was running around with 808 Mafia and TM88. Carson refined his artistry and made plenty of connections across ATL. TM88 led him to Young Thug, and Carson eventually got so cool with the YSL boss that he was invited without his 808 Mafia peers.
“TM88 was Thug’s DJ at the time, so he’d bring Ken over there, and Thug fucked with him so hard to the point that Ken would just be over there alone,” JBans told Pitchfork.
Ken Carson’s life changed when he met Playboi Carti. While running around with 808 Mafia’s Southside, Carson, who began creating a buzz on SoundCloud, met King Vamp at a listening party, and they hit the studio together later that night.
Shortly after, Carson became one of the first artists signed to Carti’s Opium imprint in 2019. He was the first to sign with the label, ahead of Destroy Lonely and Homixide Gang.
Ken Carson broke through with his solo Billboard Hot 100 debut in April 2024, when “Overseas” led the charge for the recently released deluxe edition of A Great Chaos. Produced by Lucian, the distorted 808-driven tune reached No. 79 on the chart. The single’s bloody cover art took inspiration from Heath Ledger’s Joker character in The Dark Knight. Gunnar Stahl helmed the grainy visual for the song, which is now certified gold.
Carson’s rise was fueled by a pair of albums, Project X and X, before A Great Chaos arrived in October 2023, but that’s when the Atlanta native really made a quantum leap on the Billboard charts, proving he belonged. A Great Chaos peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard 200 and has spent 58 weeks on the all-genre chart. The LP is now also certified gold by the RIAA.
While he didn’t attend Yale University, Ken Carson picked up his own version of a diploma when he collected his first gold plaque with “Yale.” Released in 2020 as part of his Teen X EP, the track was gold-certified by the RIAA in October 2023.
Ken Carson hit the road with the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2024 and opened for the legendary band on a handful of tour dates. The band’s lead vocalist, Anthony Kiedis, appears to be a fan of Carson: He was spotted rocking A Great Chaos merchandise while attending a Lakers game last year.
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