"Jesus is King"- the much-awaited and anticipated album of rapper Kanye West clinches the number 1 spot on the Billboard 200 chart. This is the rappers ninth number 1 album on the chart which follows Post Malone’s "Hollywood’s Bleeding" (365.4 million streams), Ariana Grande’s "Thank U, Next" (307.1 million streams), Taylor Swift’s "Lover" (226.1 million streams) and Malone’s "Hollywood’s Bleeding " again (220.9 million streams).
'Jesus is King' maintains the 5th largest streaming for any album in 2019
Billboard reports that "Jesus is King" maintained the fifth-largest streaming for any album in 2019 after amassing about 197 million views. Kanye West, who has been producing album hits back to back, released his sophomore album titled "Late registration," which stood at the number one spot in 2005.
Other later titles such as "Graduation" (2007), "808s & Heartbreak" (2008), " My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" (2010), Yeezuz (2013), "The Life of Pablo" (2016) and "Ye" (2018) recorded massive successes topping the major music charts.
It was only two of his albums- "The College Dropout" (2004) and "Kids See Ghosts" (2018) that missed the number one spot to settle for the number 2 spot.
According to Billboard, Kanye West's "Jesus Is King" amassed 264,000 album-equivalent units in America. The traditional album sales alone recorded 109,000 in number, while about 151,000 was from streaming. Then an additional 3000 was from other track equivalent units.
Kanye West, who turns 'evangelist,' talks about the second album
The rapper turned "evangelist" has already gotten back to the studio to get more work done. He revealed that a second album, "Jesus is born," which was already underway, should be due for release on Christmas day.
According to him, its title was influenced mainly by the various Sunday services events, though it might still change. He added that he was devoting himself to Christ.
As an "evangelist," whose mission was to get more people converted, he revealed that in his life, he told people about Hennessey and what it did for him. Now, he wants the world to know about Jesus. According to him, he is now a bonafide son of God no longer under the curse of slavery.
This is not the first time Kanye West is using his music to preach religion. His 2016 album, with the opening song, "Ultralight Beam," sought to spread the gospel. His new album is different even though it completes his music ideology of three years ago.
The 42-year-old father of three, who also doubles as an entrepreneur, and fashion designer, combines the genre of music styles covering hip hop, soul, baroque pop, electro, indie rock, synth-pop, industrial, and gospel. This multiple Grammy award-winning rapper is on the list of the most critically acclaimed musicians of the 21st century, with over 140 million records sold worldwide.