Kendrick Lamar has achieved his fourth No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart with the track "Not Like Us," a diss track directed at fellow rapper Drake. Released on May 4, 2024, the track topped the charts largely due to its streaming popularity, accumulating 71 million streams in the United States in its first week. The song is part of a series of rapid-fire diss tracks exchanged between Lamar and Drake, escalating a long-standing rivalry between the two hip-hop artists.
In the same week, Taylor Swift's album "The Tortured Poets Department" maintained the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 album chart for the third consecutive week. Swift's album, released on April 19, 2024, has already amassed the equivalent of 3.3 million sales, including 1.6 billion streams of its 31 tracks in the U.S.
Dua Lipa's album "Radical Optimism," despite significant promotion and Lipa's appearance on major platforms such as "Saturday Night Live," opened at No. 2. This marks her highest charting position yet, though the initial sales figures, including 51,500 traditional sales, were lower than expected for such a highly publicized release.
These chart movements reflect the ongoing shifts and competitions within the music industry, spotlighting the achievements of these prominent artists in their respective genres.