Kendrick Lamar’s “good kid, m.A.A.d city” breaks records 12 years after debut

Lamar, the only rapper honoured with a Pulitzer, commands respect from hip-hop heavyweights like Eminem.

Kendrick Lamar's record-breaking album “good kid, m.A.A.d city” just reached another milestone. 

Billboard reported on Monday April 29 that the album, which marked Lamar's major label debut in October 2012, has remained on the Billboard 200 chart for 600 weeks straight. 

Album cover for "good kid, m.A.A.d city" (Courtesy: Kendrick Lamar via Spotify)

This achievement makes “good kid, m.A.A.d city” the first hip-hop studio album to ever reach this mark. It further solidifies its position as the longest-running hip-hop album on the chart that isn't a greatest hits compilation, surpassing albums like Drake's “Take Care,” J. Cole's “2014 Forest Hills Drive,” and Kanye West's “Graduation.”

While Kendrick Lamar's “good kid, m.A.A.d city” holds the record for the longest-charting non-compilation hip-hop album, the all-time champion remains Eminem's “Curtain Call: The Hits,” a greatest hits collection that's spent over 681 weeks on the Billboard 200. 

The undisputed winner of chart longevity, however, is Pink Floyd's “Dark Side of the Moon,” which crossed a staggering 1,000 weeks on the chart in September 2023. 

“good kid, m.A.A.d city” previously dethroned Eminem's studio album “The Eminem Show” in 2019, earning high praise from the rapper himself.

Eminem and Kendrick Lamar visiting the UM Office in 2021 (Courtesy: E Pro News)

“The album is crafted from front to back, the way each song ties into each other – to me that’s genius,” Eminem told The New York Times in 2014.

“There’s a certain hunger that you can sense about Kendrick. He raps to be the best rapper in the world…. He’s going to be around for a long time.”

This album, known for its hits like “Swimming Pools (Drank),” “B*tch, Don’t Kill My Vibe,” and “Backseat Freestyle,” made a strong debut at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 242,000 copies in its first week. 

It received multiple nominations at the 2014 Grammy Awards, but controversially lost to Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ The Heist in the Best Rap Album category, leading Macklemore to later apologize to Kendrick Lamar for winning over him. 

On the 10th anniversary of good kid, m.A.A.d city, TDE president Terrence “Punch” Henderson revealed that Kendrick was still making adjustments to the album even at the last minute. He shared on social media that just hours before the project deadline, Lamar added the famous hook on “m.A.A.d city.” 

About the album, the executive wrote, “We all put everything into it. GKMC was the start. We made our mark in Hip Hop and music in general with that album. I’m forever grateful to have played a part in it.”