As far as modern-day R&B goes, the monstrous run of SZA‘s long-awaited sophomore album – 2022’s ‘SOS‘ – is damn near unprecedented. Even more notable are the number of longstanding records she’s broken along the way with the project and its accompanying era.
Beyond opening at #1 on the Billboard 200 with the largest streaming week ever for an R&B effort, the ‘CTRL‘ follow-up would go on to control the chart for a whopping 10 weeks – making it longest-running #1 female studio album by a Black woman since Mariah Carey‘s 1990 debut and Whitney Houston‘s 1987 eponymous project ruled over the tally for a respective 11 weeks.
And while that accomplishment was gargantuan, it wasn’t be the last time SZA (born Solana Rowe) would see her name beside Whitney’s for a historic feat.