Lecrae lands the #1 Album In the Country with “Anomaly”
September 17, 2014
By Hasan James
For years, I have been a huge fan of Lecrae and I believe I have all but one of his albums in my collection. I became a fan first because of his ability to rap about Jesus without being preachy. Second, I am a fan of Hip-Hop, so his flow and the way he was able to connect to an audience always amazed me. The crazy thing about Lecrae is he never really fit into to any category because Gospel radio has yet to embrace Christian rap because it’s not “Churchy” enough and mainstream radio won’t play it either because it’s not wordly or misogynistic enough.
Even with millions of records sold, SOLD OUT tours and an appearance on the BET Hip Hop Awards cypher, Lecrae was still relatively unknown to some people, until now….
According to Billboard, Rapper Lecrae collects his first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 as his new Anomaly opens atop the list. It sold 88,000 copies in the week ending Sept. 14, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It’s also the first chart-topper for Lecrae’s label, Reach Records.
Anomaly‘s launch is Lecrae’s best sales week, trumping the 72,000-unit start of 2012’s Gravity, which debuted and peaked at No. 3. (Gravity was also Lecrae’s highest-charting album — and only top 10 — until Anomaly‘s arrival.)
Anomaly is the Grammy winner’s sixth No. 1 on the Gospel Albums chart and his fifth leader on Christian Albums. (Most Christian hip-hop releases are eligible to appear on both sales charts.)
Christian Rapper Lecrae on Hip-Hop’s ‘Inconsistency’ and Ferguson
Thus, Anomaly is the first title to crown both Gospel Albums and the Billboard 200, and just the fifth set to lead both Christian Albums and the Billboard 200. In terms of the latter achievement, it follows Chris Tomlin’s Burning Lights (in 2013), TobyMac’s Eye on It (2012), LeAnn Rimes’ You Light Up My Life — Inspirational Songs (1997) and Bob Carlisle’s Butterfly Kisses (Shades of Grace) (1997).
While Lecrae, 34, might not quite be a household name — he’s yet to chart a single on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 — he has sold 1.4 million albums and 2.9 million track downloads. He has released seven studio albums, and made his chart debut in 2005 with Real Talk (No. 39, Gospel Albums). He reached the all-genre Billboard 200 for the first time in 2008 with Rebel, which peaked at No. 88.
Lecrae leads a parade of new entries in the top 10 of the Billboard 200, where six more titles arrive. The seven debuts are the most the top 10 has seen since Oct. 26, 2013, when seven titles also stepped in (led by Miley Cyrus’ Bangerz).
Last week, Lecrae appeared on New York’s Power 105.1 Breakfast Club with Charlemagne “Tha God”, Angela Yee and DJ Envy. If you know anything about that show, you know that only the most popular or controversial characters appear on that show, however, Lecrae stood his ground and representing for the kingdom. When asked by Charlemagne if he was a “Christian rapper”, he responded, “I am a Christian and I am a rapper…I don’t like boxes.”
