J. Cole Dominates the Billboard Top 200 and Hot 100 With a New Album, ‘The Off Season’

Fans and critics alike are celebrating this drop and the numbers are proving it. The album has already made history in the 11 days that it has been out.

Domination in His “Off Season”

After years of anticipating his follow up to ‘KOD,’ his announcement of the new project garnered the biggest hype for a Hip-Hop album in quite some time. The fact that this album is sitting at the top of the Billboard Top 200 chart is a major accomplishment. This places Cole as the first-ever MC to have six back-to-back #1 studio albums, putting him above Drake and DMX, who each have five (although both have incoming releases). However, despite not being a solo project, the J. Cole-helmed ‘Revenge of the Dreamers III,’ released by Dreamville debuted at #1 as well, adding further untouchability to the North Carolina rapper’s run.

What is even more astounding is that all 12 tracks from the record are still on the Billboard Hot 100 songs. But that’s not all! King Cole has a whopping four songs that occupy the Top 10, two of them are even top five! Drake, Juice WRLD, and Lil Wayne are the only other artists in history to have four songs in the Top 10. While there are plenty of other exciting releases on the way, it’s likely that many of Cole’s tracks are on Billboard to stay.

Motivated by More Than Music

Outside of music, Cole only continues to win. With the album’s name, as well as its cover, it’s easy to assume that this album has to do with Cole’s basketball dreams. Not only did he want to try out for the NBA, but his legendary mixtapes are all basketball-themed which ‘The Off Season’ is a direct stylistic callback to. However, this transcends music as J. Cole is currently playing basketball in Rwanda for the Patriots. It’s amazing to see how the MC can put in so much time and focus on both of his passions and end up achieving both at the same time.

There truly are fewer rappers out there more inspiring than J. Cole. He proves that at any age, one can follow their dreams if one works hard enough and stay humble. Even Steph Curry, now in his own off-season, says that Cole is inspiring him the same way that his playing inspires Cole; check out their live stream here! Whatever Cole does next, there’s no doubt he will continue to inspire all.

Written by Jason Heilbronner