To say the performance of J. Cole‘s latest album, ‘The Off-Season,’ is one of 2021’s biggest music stories is a serious understatement.

As if being a critical slam dunk wasn’t enough, the project entered the updated Billboard 200 at #1 with first-week sales of nearly 300K – the most of any male effort this year to date.  Overall, the measure made him the first rapper in history to see his first six albums peak at #1 on the tally.

The wins don’t stop on the Billboard 200 side of the charts, however.  Look inside to see how tunes that line the tracklist of ‘The Off-Season’ are earning major points on the Billboard Hot 100.

Thanks to gargantuan streaming figures, every song from Cole’s latest LP charted inside the Hot 100’s top 40.  The placements include four debuts in the top 10, putting him in a four-way tie with Drake, Juice Wrld, and Lil Wayne as the only acts to ever do such (click here to read more).

Chart Position / Title
No. 2, “my.life,” with 21 Savage & Morray
No. 5, “amari”
No. 7, “pride.is.the.devil,” with Lil Baby
No. 8, “95.south”
No. 13, “applying.pressure”
No. 14, “100.mil’,” with Bas
No. 17, “interlude” (down from its No. 8 debut/peak)
No. 19, “let.go.my.hand,” with 6LACK
No. 20, “punchin’.the.clock”
No. 25, “the.climb.back” (re-entry; new peak)
No. 28, “hunger.on.hillside,” with Bas
No. 33, “close”

With the placements above, ‘Off-Season’ becomes one of the only 25 albums in history to spawn five top 5 hits on the Hot 100.  Of that tally, the only other rappers to lay claim to such feat are Post Malone, Drake, and Juice Wrld.

Finally, as 8 of the songs above are concurrently in the top 20, J. breaks his personal record of most simultaneous top 20 hits.  The record was originally set three years ago when his 2018 album, ‘KOD,’ put 7 songs in the chart region at the same time.

Among all artists, Drake owns the record as he placed 12 top 20 hits at once with his 2018 album, ‘Scorpion.’

Click here to see who joins J. Cole in the top 25 of this week’s ‘TGJ Chart Check: Hot 100 edition.’

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