Music

K-Dot becomes the third act since January 2015, following Drake and Future, to score two No. 1 albums on the chart in less than 12 months.

• Mar 14, 2016

AceShowbiz - Kendrick Lamar's latest album, "untitled unmastered.", has made its way out to No. 1 of this week's Billboard 200. Nielsen Music reports that the surprise project collected 178,000 equivalent album units, including 142,000 in pure album sales, in the week ending March 10.

This is Lamar's second time to have landed atop the list in less than a year. Previously, he collected his first No. 1 set with the critically-acclaimed "To Pimp a Butterfly", which opened with 363,000 equivalent album units following its release in March 2015.

As noted by Billboard, K-Dot is the third act since January 2015 to have two No. 1 efforts in less than 12 months. Drake did so last year with the mixtape "If You're Reading This It's Too Late" and "What a Time to Be Alive". The latter title is a collaboration with Future, who earned his first No. 1 album earlier that year with "DS2".

Next on Billboard 200 this week, Adele's "25" and Rihanna's "Anti" are keeping their positions steady at No. 2 and No. 3 with another 61,000 and 58,000 units respectively. 2 Chainz is the next newcomer as his "ColleGrove" arrives at No. 4 with 52,000, including 34,000 copies of pure album. This marks the rapper's third consecutive album to land within the top 5, following "Based on a TRU Story 2: Me Time (No. 3 in 2013) and "Based on a T.R.U. Story" (No. 1 in 2012).

Justin Bieber's "Purpose" closes out the top No. 5 with 53,000 units in its 17th week on the chart. Behind the Canadian singer is Joey + Rory, whose "Hymns" rises from No. 10 to No. 6 with 45,000 units following Joey Feek's death. She passed away on March 4 of cancer.

Familiar names make up the rest of the top 10. Chris Stapleton's "Traveller" sits still at No. 7 with 39,000, followed by Twenty One Pilots' "Blurryface" that is also a non-mover, staying at No. 8 with 34,000.

The Weeknd's "Beauty Behind the Madness" and Kevin Gates' "Islah" both return to the top 10. The former jumps from No. 12 to No. 9 with a little over 30,000. The latter also ascends three rungs to No. 10 with 30,000.

1. "untitled unmastered." - Kendrick Lamar (178,000)
2. "25" - Adele (61,000)
3. "Anti" - Rihanna (58,000)
4. "ColleGrove" - 2 Chainz (52,000)
5. "Purpose" - Justin Bieber (53,000)
6. "Hymns" - Joey + Rory (45,000)
7. "Traveller" - Chris Stapleton (39,000)
8. "Blurryface" - Twenty One Pilots (34,000)
9. "Beauty Behind the Madness" - The Weeknd (30,000)
10. "Islah" - Kevin Gates (30,000)