Future’s decision to release two albums in two consecutive weeks has paid off big: The rapper has become the first artist in music history to score back-to-back No. 1 debuts in successive weeks on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Billboard reports that Future unseated the top spot, held the week before by his self-titled Future in its debut week, with the release of HNDRXX. He is also the first solo artist to ever succeed himself with a No. 1 album (including non-debuts) — the last to accomplish the feat was Simon & Garfunkel in 1968 with Bookends and The Graduate soundtrack (neither debuted as No. 1). The only other artists who have supplanted a No. 1 album with another chart topper were other bands in the 1960s: the Beatles, Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, the Monkees, and Peter, Paul and Mary. The last artist to hold the No. 1 and No. 2 album spots concurrently was Prince following his death in 2016. Future is “Comin Out Strong” indeed.
