When it comes to hip-hop, the stats don’t mean everything. However, they do make for some pretty great bragging rights—especially when the list of No. 1 albums is so long that it’s in the double digits. Only a select few have the longevity and discography to meet such criteria, and we’re breaking down which rappers and albums made the cut.
Below, find the Top Five rappers with the most No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 chart and other accomplishments they’ve raked up throughout the years.
#5 Eminem
Eminem is not just certified in the rap game but by the RIAA as well. He became the most RIAA-certified artist for singles in gold and platinum history in 2022. He has won 15 Grammys so far in his career and was named the Billboard Artist of the Decade in 2009. When it comes to Billboard, he’s had 11 No. 1 albums in the Billboard 200 and 23 Top Ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100. All sixteen songs from The Death of Slim Shady debuted on the Hot 100 in July, and the artist now has over 100 entries on the chart.
Eminem’s 11 No. 1 albums in chronological order:
- — The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)
- — The Eminem Show (2002)
- — Encore (2004)
- — Curtain Call: The Hits (2005)
- — Relapse (2009)
- — Recovery (2010)
- — The Marshall Mathers LP 2 (2013)
- — Revival (2017)
- — Kamikaze (2018)
- — Music To Be Murdered By (2020)
- — The Death Of Slim Shady (Coup de Grace) (2024)
#4 Future
It should be no surprise that Future is one of the top-achieving gold and platinum rappers of all time. He has had 11 No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 and 15 Top Ten songs on the Billboard Hot 100. In the past six months alone, he has had three No. 1 albums, We Don’t Trust You, We Still Don’t Trust You, and MIXTAPE PLUTO, making him the only artist on the list to accomplish this in such a short period.
Every song from September’s MIXTAPE PLUTO landed on the Billboard Hot 100, and the ATL legend is making sure the hype and madness go beyond just March.
Future’s 11 No. 1 albums in chronological order:
- — DS2 (2015)
- — What a Time to be Alive with Drake (2015)
- — EVOL (2016)
- — FUTURE (2017)
- — HNDRXX (2017)
- — The Wizrd (2019)
- — High Off Life (2020)
- — I Never Liked You (2022)
- — We Don’t Trust You (2024)
- — We Still Don’t Trust You (2024)
- — MIXTAPE PLUTO (2024)
#3 Ye
Ye has been a prominent figure in the rap game, starting in the streets of Chicago and now becoming a worldwide phenomenon to his ride-or-die fanbase. Over twenty years ago, he won the Billboard Artist Achievement Award in 2005. Since then, he has secured 11 No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 and 21 Top Ten songs on the Billboard Hot 100. He is tied with Jay-Z for the most Grammy wins by a rapper, winning 24 Grammys each. However, Ye wanted to go beyond just producing and creating music.
He formally founded the brand Yeezy in 2009, which is still making “waves” today. The Yeezy “WET” tank tops sold Michael Jordan numbers and became inescapable in 2024. The brand helped push the rapper to reach billionaire status in 2020, but unfortunately, the title was lost in 2022.
Ye’s 11 No. 1 albums in chronological order:
- — Graduation (2007)
- — Late Registration (2005)
- — 808s and Heartbreak (2008)
- — My Beautiful Twisted Dark Fantasy (2010)
- — Watch the Throne with Jay-Z (2011)
- — Yeezus (2013)
- — The Life of Pablo (2016)
- — Ye (2018)
- — Jesus is King (2019)
- — Donda (2021)
- — VULTURES 1 (2024)
#2 Drake
October’s Very Own has the stats to back up his reputation as a hitmaker (despite the chaos from 2024). In 2017, Drizzy broke the record for most Billboard Music Awards wins, taking home 13 Ws. He’s had 13 No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 and 78 Top Ten songs on the Billboard Hot 100. When it comes to his albums and singles specifically, “One Dance” became Spotify’s most streamed song ever in 2018 with over 882 million streams, and the album Her Loss debuted in 2022 at No. 1 with the fourth-largest streaming week for any album ever.
Drake’s 12 No. 1 albums in chronological order:
- — Take Care (2011)
- — Thank Me Later (2010)
- — Nothing Was the Same (2013)
- — If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late (2015)
- — What a Time to be Alive with Future (2015)
- — Views (2016)
- — More Life (2017)
- — Scorpion (2018)
- — Care Package (2019)
- — Certified Love Boy (2021)
- — Honestly, Nevermind (2022)
- — Her Loss with 21 Savage (2022)
- — For All The Dogs (2023)
#1 Jay-Z
The Brooklyn native is seen as not only a rap pioneer but an inspiration to some of the biggest names in hip-hop, like J. Cole. He is currently tied with Ye as the two rappers with the most Grammy wins in history, for a total of 24 each. He released No. 1 albums for nine consecutive years, from 1998 to 2007. Throughout his career, Jay-Z also had 22 songs that ranked in the Top 10 of Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. His masterful storytelling earned him a spot as the first rapper in the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2017.
However, HOV has more than just rap credits under his belt—he also has plenty of business accomplishments. He served as the CEO of Def Jam Records before founding the entertainment company Roc Nation in 2008. Eleven years later, he became the first rap billionaire and added an even stronger foundation to his GOAT status.
Jay-Z’s 14 No. 1 albums in chronological order:
- — Vol. 2…Hard Knock Life (1998)
- — Vol 3…Life and Times of S. Carter (1999)
- — The Dynasty: Roc La Familia (2000)
- — The Blueprint (2001)
- — The Blueprint 2: The Gift and the Curse (2002)
- — The Black Album (2003)
- — Collision Course with Linkin Park (2004)
- — Unfinished Business with R. Kelly (2004)
- — Kingdom Come (2006)
- — American Gangster (2007)
- — The Blueprint 3 (2009)
- — Watch the Throne with Ye (2011)
- — Magna Carta Holy Grail (2013)
- — 4:44 (2017)
