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Lil Wayne extends his Carter series’ winning streak on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart as Tha Carter VI launches at No. 1 on the list dated June 21. The project, issued on Young Money/Republic, arrives with 108,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States in the tracking week of June 6-12, according to Luminate.
Of Tha Carter VI’s starting sum, streaming activity contributes 73,000 units — equaling 97.06 million official on-demand audio and video streams of its songs. Album sales deliver another 34,000 units, while track-equivalent album activity brings in the remaining 1,000 units. (One unit equals the following levels of consumption: one album sale, 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams for a song on the album.)
Tha Carter VI gives Lil Wayne his 11th No. 1 album on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, a streak that includes the previous five Carter projects. (The first installment, 2004’s Tha Carter debuted at its No. 2 peak on the list.) As Tha Carter VI joins the pack, here’s a review of Lil Wayne’s No. 1s on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums:
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Tha Block Is Hot, No. 1 for two weeks, beginning Nov. 20, 1999
500 Degreez, one, Aug. 10, 2002
Tha Carter II, one, Dec. 24, 2005
Like Father, Like Son (with Birdman), one, Nov. 18, 2006
Tha Carter III, seven, June 28, 2008
Rebirth, one, Feb. 20, 2010
I Am Not a Human Being, four, Oct. 16, 2010
Tha Carter IV, seven, Sept. 17, 2011
Tha Carter V, two, Oct. 13, 2018
Funeral, one, Feb. 15, 2020
Tha Carter VI, one (to date), June 21, 2025
Thanks to the newest champ, the rapper becomes the eighth artist with at least 11 No. 1s since the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart launched in 1965. He follows The Temptations, who hold a record 17 leaders, Drake and Future (16 each), Jay-Z (14), Ye (formerly Kanye West) and R. Kelly (12) and ties Eminem.
Elsewhere, Tha Carter VI begins as Lil Wayne’s 10th No. 1 on the Top Rap Albums chart and starts at No. 2 on the all-genre Billboard 200, behind Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem.
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In addition to the album’s chart-topping entrance, 17 of Tha Carter VI’s tracks jump onto the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. “Hip-Hop,” with BigXthaPlug featuring Jay Jones, is the highest ranking, at No. 8, and secures Lil Wayne’s 53rd top 10 on the chart. With it, he breaks from a tie with Aretha Franklin for the third-most top 10s in the chart’s history, dating to its consolidation as the singular, all-encompassing genre list in 1958. Drake reigns with 138 top 10s, while James Brown stands in second place with 57.
Here’s a complete recap of Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter VI placements on the 50-position Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart this week:
No. 8, “Hip-Hop,” with BigXthaPlug feat. Jay Jones
No. 12, “Sharks,” with Jelly Roll & Big Sean
No. 15, “Banned From NO”
No. 16, “Welcome to Tha Carter”
No. 18, “Bells”
No. 23, “Cotton Candy,” with 2 Chainz
No. 26, “Flex Up”
No. 27, “Island Holiday”
No. 29, “The Days,” with Bono
No. 31, “Loki’s Theme”
No. 34, “Peanuts 2 N Elephant”
No. 35, “Alone in the Studio with My Gun,” with MGK & Kodak Black
No. 36, “If I Played Guitar”
No. 38, “Written History”
No. 39, “Bein Myself,” with Mannie Fresh
No. 46, “Maria,” with Wyclef Jean feat. Andrea Bocelli
No. 47, “Rari,” with Kameron Carter
Lola Young only has “One Thing” on her mind: The British songwriter’s third full-length album is officially on its way. Young will release I’m Only F–king Myself on Sept. 19, following a huge 18 months that have put the Londoner on the map as a main pop girl. The forthcoming record was written with her […]
Karol G has revealed the full tracklist to her fifth studio album, Tropicoqueta, out this Friday (June 20). “Intense chapters, unexpected twists, endearing characters. This is the official Track Listing for this new story of my life!” the Colombian star captioned her post revealing her new tunes. “Each song has its own story. Each collaboration […]
Zohran Mamdani is a 33-year-old Democratic Socialist looking to become the next mayor of New York City. As voters learn more about potential candidates, curious folks have dug up old rap videos from a previous life for Mamdani, who rhymed under the monikers Young Cardamom and then Mr. Cardamom.
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According to a 2019 story about actress Madhur Jaffrey in The New York Times, Mamdani made his rap debut in the late 2000s while running for vice president at the Bronx High School of Science. He then partnered with his close friend Abdul Bar Hussein to form a rap duo in the mid-2010s.
They would release a six-track EP, titled Sidda Mukyaalo, in 2016, which finds them rapping in six different languages while paying homage to their Ugandan roots.
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Mamdani (Mr. Cardamom) wouldn’t hesitate to touch on politically charged topics in his rhymes and dealt with racism. “When it’s a Black friend or family member, it always takes a bit longer,” he raps on “Askari,” which finds him playing a security guard opening a gate quicker for a white person.
One of the more recent tracks that has gone viral is his 2019 “Nani” video, a tribute to his grandmother, Praveen Nair, who worked for the nonprofit Salaam Baalak Trust. The visual, which stars Jaffrey and even received coverage from The New York Times, has more than 213,000 views on YouTube. It’s the only clip left on his official YouTube account as Mr. Cardamom.
Supporters hopped into the clip’s comments section, saying Mamdani has their vote and they’re convinced he needs to be the next mayor of NYC.
“He’s got my vote, just cause I don’t want smoke with nani,” one person wrote, while a second added, “I don’t even live in NY but please. Please, y’all gotta make him mayor, if only for this banger.”
Another chimed in: “I swear to god Zohran completed every damn sidequest out there lmao.”
The NYC mayoral race continues to heat up in its final days of the primary, with Mamdani closing the gap on former NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo among Democrats in the polls. A recent survey from the Marist Institute for Public Opinion found that 38 percent of voters said they’d rank Cuomo at the top of their ballots, compared to 27 percent for Mamdani.
Independent music platform Create Music Group (CMG) has formed a joint venture with Star Trak Entertainment and its co-founder Rob Walker, Billboard can exclusively report. Under the terms of the new partnership, CMG will provide worldwide distribution, technology and marketing services to Star Trak. As noted in the press release announcing the agreement, the joint […]
Murray Close / Will Smith
Will Smith’s legendary boneheaded decisions regarding choosing film roles early in his career will forever haunt him.
The rapper and actor has had numerous notable roles in his ongoing Hollywood career. Still, he will forever be remembered by movie fans for turning down the lead role of Neo in The Matrix franchise to star in one of the biggest flops of his career, Wild Wild West.
It turns out that he has been holding onto another epic failure, having turned down a role in the Christopher Nolan blockbuster Inception.
The Independence Day star shared during an interview with radio station KISS XTRA that Nolan pitched the 2010 mind-bending science fiction film to him, but he said nah because “didn’t get it.”
“I’ve never said that out loud,” Smith said in the interview. “And now that I think about it, it’s those movies that go into those alternate realities, they don’t pitch well.”
Bruh.
He didn’t reveal which role Nolan was pitching to him, but the lead role ultimately went to Leonardo DiCaprio, and we honestly couldn’t see anyone else in it now.
Smith Is Still Hurt About Turning Down The Matrix
Smith also revisited his decision to turn down the starring role in The Matrix, calling it one of his “beautiful scars.”
Instead of being the one, a role that eventually went to Keanu Reeves, catapulting his movie career, Smith decided to star as Jim West in Wild Wild West.
Smith was banking on his newly minted status as a summer blockbuster king following the success of his previous films, Independence Day and Men in Black, but that turned out not to be the case.
The Matrix went on to be a critical success in 1999, spawning two successful sequels and a reboot, while Wild Wild West went on to win several Razzies and was panned by critics.
We are sure Smith has learned some valuable lessons from his box office misses.
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J. Brown’s “True Love” charts a successful course to No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay radio ranking as it rises from No. 2 to crown the list dated June 21. The song gives Brown his third champ on the chart. “True Love,” released and promoted through the independent label MoCha, wins the top spot […]
President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order this week extending the deadline for TikTok’s Chinese parent company to divest the popular video-sharing app, marking the third such extension. The move comes after a previous 75-day reprieve granted in April, which aimed to keep TikTok operational in the U.S. while a potential sale […]
Fans who’ve been dying to see Bruno Mars become a Fortnite Festival Icon can now die with a smile, as the game has announced that the hitmaker is its Season 9 headliner.
Following in the footsteps of past Festival Icons such as The Weeknd, Sabrina Carpenter and Billie Eilish, Mars transforms into a playable avatar performing some of his biggest hits — including Billboard Hot 100-topping Lady Gaga collaboration “Die With a Smile” and ROSÉ duet “APT.” — on an all-new main stage, as previewed in a trailer that dropped Wednesday (June 18).
The partnership comes about three years after Mars first entered the Fortnite universe alongside Anderson .Paak as part of a Silk Sonic collaboration with the game — something Mars enjoyed so much, he tells Billboard in an exclusive interview ahead of the Festival Season 9 launch that there was no hesitation when it came to teaming up a second time. “When they hit me up again, I said, ‘Done!’” he recalls.
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“Last time we did this, there was no Fortnite Festival, so this time we get to lean even more into the music,” Mars adds. “I’m excited that we put a bunch of songs in the game that people can play to.”
Fortnite first introduced its Festival counterpart in late 2023, taking inspiration from similar music-focused games such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero. It has since welcomed numerous A-list artists to serve as the face of the game over the course of nine seasons, including Gaga, Karol G, Metallica and Snoop Dogg.
Each season sees its Icon made into a digital persona that fans can also use in gameplay, complete with special outfits, accessories, instruments and emotes. In Mars’ case, fans will have access to his retro cowboy getup worn in the “Die With a Smile” music video, “APT.” kit drums and more goodies.
“It’s very fun seeing myself as an avatar,” Mars tells Billboard of the treatment. “They really nailed my body proportions — tall, chiseled,” he continues. “It’s uncanny.”
Mars’ solo partnership with the game is particularly special, however, as it coincides with the official release of his song “Bonde do Brunão” on streaming services. The track started as an idea he shared with followers on social media that ended up going viral, leaving countless fans looking for a place to listen to it in full. Now, they have multiple; in addition to appearing on DSPs, “Bonde do Brunão” is also available in-game as part of Fortnite Festival S9.
“That song was a fun idea we put up on Instagram while I was in Brazil, but then it had a life of its own,” Mars explains to Billboard. “We had this idea of making it a part of the game, and Fortnite was into it. They went all out with it and got the song, the dance and the outfit.”
Fortnite Festival Season 9 featuring Bruno Mars is available to play now.
Watch the Fortnite Festival Season 9 trailer below.
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