Have you heard that Lil Wayne released an album? The rest of the U.S. has. All of us are still collectively wrapping our heads around the first release in Tha Carter series since 2011, which was good enough for Weezy F. Baby to dominate the streaming charts. The first 16 tracks of Spotify's Top 50 chart in the States are currently held by tracks from Tha Carter V.
The obvious contenders start off the chart. The Carter V's biggest thinkpiece generators and conversation starters are also its most-streamed tracks. Kendrick Lamar's unhinged verse on the odd story song "Mona Lisa" was good enough for the top slot, followed quickly by Wayne's team-up with the late XXXTentacion.
The chart domination continues for 14 more tracks before breaking for Kanye West and Lil Pump's "I Love It" and another posthumous release from X, his cobbled-together collaboration with Lil Peep. We doubt that Kanye minds being behind Wayne seeing as he's already ceded the spotlight to Weezy ahead of his upcoming release of Yandhi.
A few slots later, the remaining seven songs got their moment to shine. That tracks like "Demon" and "Dope New Gospel" didn't end up in the chain at the top of the chart isn't a statement on quality, they just come at the tail-end of a very long album.
As huge as the album is, it's astounding to think that it could have been even bigger. "What About Me" was supposed to be another of the album's marquee feature tracks, with contributions from Post Malone and Drake.
