Fans were on the edge of their seats waiting for Playboi Carti to drop his next album after a five-year delay. Finally, the rapper came through early March 14 with 30 tracks, including plenty of features from heavyweights like Kendrick Lamar — and a lack of Ye.
Now that MUSIC is out into the world, it’s time to see how it did on the charts. The rapper disputed his reported first-week sales on March 23, stating that he actually sold 320K instead of Billboard’s total of 298K, but no official source has confirmed whether or not that’s true.
King Vamp broke records
MUSIC officially had the biggest week for a rap album this year and claimed a No. 1 debut on the Billboard 200 (his second since 2020’s Whole Lotta Red). However, he made even bigger waves on the Billboard Hot 100. All thirty tracks on the album made it to this week’s chart, making Carti the first rapper to secure this achievement with that many songs (technically, it’s 31 since his collaboration with The Weeknd, “Timeless,” is on the chart as well).
This is a major feat for Carti. Kendrick Lamar, for example, had every song chart from 2022’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, but there were only 19 songs total on the album. Drake’s 2021 album, Certified Lover Boy, also had every song make the chart, but there were only 21 songs in total — proof that Carti has really raised the bar.
In response to the big news, though, Carti decided not to pop bottles but throw shots at one of his former collaborators.
Did Playboi Carti diss Lil Yachty?
The duo previously worked on songs like 2018’s “Get Dripped” and 2020’s “Flex Up” along with Future. However, their relationship seemed to sour when Yachty was accused of stealing Carti’s sound in 2023. Back then, DJ Akademiks claimed that Yachty’s songs like “Strike (Holster)” were influenced by Carti, and the vampire rapper caused Yachty to “change his entire sound.”
Despite Yachty trying to shut it down, the same rumors popped up again in 2024 when Kai Cenat previewed a new song from Yachty that sounded too close to Carti for fans. They were immediately on Yachty’s head, even though the rapper denied he stole anything from Carti.
Now, Carti took to Instagram on March 24 to post about his Billboard Hot 100 achievement, tagging Gio Ramos and calling out her alleged ex—Lil Yachty.
The model was heavily involved in Yachty’s collective Concrete Boys and was even compared to basketball player PJ Tucker by the rapper. “[She’s] someone who keeps the locker room in check and makes sure the team is staying fly,” Yachty said about Gio back in a 2024 interview with Complex.
Rumors began to swirl once Gio was announced to be part of the collective that her relationship with Yachty was more romantic (despite publicly stating she’s a lesbian online). However, Yachty, in a since-deleted tweet on March 24, said they were strictly friends.
That has done nothing to stop the online accusations of Gio now dating Carti, especially after the rapper allegedly bought her a $60K watch for her birthday in March.
Nevertheless, Carti is keeping it pushing and even teasing new music (which we might have to wait another four years for). MUSIC is staying on replay, and the hype is building even more to see the rapper live when he hits the stage with The Weeknd starting this May.
