Juice WRLD only reached the top of the Billboard 200 once during his life, and now, just months after his tragic passing at the age of just 21, he has doubled his total count of leaders. The rapper’s Legends Never Die opens atop the all-genre list of the most-consumed full-lengths in the country this week with the largest first-frame sum of 2020, and by landing at No. 1 on the ranking, the late musician joins a small group of some of the most successful names from his genre.
Now that he’s landed another No. 1 on the Billboard 200, WRLD has become just the fifth rapper to posthumously rule the most important albums chart.
The first rapper to control the Billboard 200 after their passing was 2Pac, who managed to do so just two months after he was killed back in 1996. His full-length The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, which he was able to wrap before his murder, quickly worked its way to the top of the all-genre ranking. He would go on to collect two more chart-toppers in the following decade.
A year after 2Pac made unfortunate history as the first rapper to rule the Billboard 200 posthumously, he was joined by fellow influential musician The Notorious B.I.G., who was also murdered only months after the aforementioned artist. Just two weeks after he was taken from the world, his appropriately-titled effort Life After Death went to No. 1. Like 2Pac, he would also collect two more champions in the years following his passing.
Those two powerhouses stood as the only rappers to run the show posthumously until 2018, when XXXTentacion, another hip-hop talent who was shot and killed, managed the feat with his release Skins. Like WRLD, it was his second ruler, as he scored one while he was still alive.
Just last week, another name was inducted into this crowd, as Pop Smoke’s Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon debuted at No. 1, becoming the late hip-hop star’s first title to run the show.
Now, WRLD has been forever immortalized with this specific accomplishment on the Billboard 200. In the coming months and years, he may collect another No. 1, as he reportedly left behind hundreds, if not thousands of songs he never released, and clearly fans are still very much interested in hearing whatever they can from the star.