Heavy Is the Crown Gives .Paak and Cordae Their First Rap No. 1

By Miles Carter, November 10, 2026

Anderson .Paak and Cordae have their first No. 1 on Billboard's Top Rap Albums chart. Their joint album Heavy Is the Crown debuted at the top of the chart dated Nov 7, 2026, Billboard reported, earning 30,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the tracking week of Oct 23 to 29, according to Luminate.

Where the units came from

The split is the story. Album sales accounted for 19,000 of those units and streaming for 11,000, with a negligible amount from track sales, per Billboard. That means close to two thirds of the first week came from people buying the album, a high share in a streaming era.

The album also opened at No. 2 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and No. 11 on the all-genre Billboard 200, Billboard reported. The chart page lists it as the week's highest-ranking debut on Top Rap Albums and credits it to Hi Level, APESHIT, Mass Appeal and EMPIRE.

A first for both

Neither artist had led this chart before. .Paak's best previous finish was No. 3 with Yes Lawd! from NxWorries, his duo with producer Knxwledge, in November 2016, and Oxnard reached No. 5 in December 2018. Cordae's The Lost Boy peaked at No. 6 in August 2019 and From a Birds Eye View reached No. 4 in January 2022, according to Billboard.

"Airbender" was the album's most-streamed song of the week with 2.4 million official U.S. on-demand streams, Billboard reported. It debuted at No. 21 on Hot Rap Songs, giving .Paak his first entry on that chart and Cordae his fourth.

The 11-track album came out Oct 23, 2026, per its Apple Music listing. KAZI's take on the music is in our Heavy Is the Crown review.