Young Thug’s punk-infused era has been a long time coming, as the Atlanta trap legend has officially released his second studio album, PUNK.
As PUNK’s opening weekend (Oct. 15) proved to be fruitful, Thugger’s latest work sold around 90K first-week units, as he beat out Drake’s Certified Lover Boy for the top spot on this week’s Billboard 200 rankings, per Hits Daily Double. Of that figure, 77,000 were streaming units (102 million on-demand song streams), 12,000 were pure album sales and 1,000 were TEA units.
.@youngthug's #PUNK to debut at #1 on the US albums chart with 90K units first week (via @HITSDD).
— chart data (@chartdata) October 22, 2021
Drake has earned four No. 1 berths in the seven weeks since CLB’s release, as Thug has dethroned Drizzy much like NBAYoungBoy did a few weeks back. They were battling over the course of the week with 1,000 units separating one another.
Featuring the likes of hip-hop’s biggest stars in Drake, Travis Scott, Future, J Cole, Gunna, ASAP Rocky, Juice WRLD, Mac Miller and many more, the 20-track rock-influenced project sees Thug at the top of his game, penning and curating not just his sophomore studio effort, but a sonic experience unmatched.
Running at just over an hour, Thug’s presence as one of hip-hop’s veteran trendsetters is on full display once more. With calls for Thugger being crowned the “GOAT” due to his immense amount of respect, he makes a strong case for it on PUNK — blending a plethora of sounds that continues to define his career even after a decade in the game.
Listen to Young Thug’s ‘Punk’ below!
Young Thug’s ‘PUNK’ era is officially underway
Fans of Young Thug have been long waiting — almost two years worth of waiting — for his second studio album, PUNK.
As it’s set to release this Friday (Oct. 15), the bar seems to be higher than ever before for the Atlanta trap pioneer.
Thug has had an interesting rollout to say the least. A few days ago, Givenchy’s 2021 Fall Show unexpectedly gifted listeners with a preview of three songs: An extended version of “Hate The Game,” “Police,” and “More” featuring the legendary Elton John and Gunna.
Young Thug previews new music off ‘PUNK’ at Givenchy show
While PUNK continues to draw closer, more news about Thug’s potential collaborations for the album are slowly coming to light. With Elton and Gunna reported to be on the album, Thugger took to IG Live Tuesday to preview an unreleased track with the late Juice WRLD. Speculation can assume that Juice and Thug’s “Bad Boy” personas would fit PUNK’s vibe perfectly, yet, fans will have to wait and see.
The first songs heard off of the project were previewed at his NPR Tiny Desk performance, where Thugger performed “Hate the Game,” “Dropping Jewels,” “Die Slow” and “Tick Tock”.
About a month later, “Tick Tock” saw an official release — signifying the beginning of PUNK’s rollout. This is the lone single fans have received from Thug prior to PUNK.
Thugger has also had yet another successful year off Young Stoner Life’s compilation album Slime Language 2, as well as several collaborations with some of our generation’s most prolific artists. While his PUNK phase is just at the start, expect Thug to double down on his signature rockstar energy come Friday.
Young Thug drops highly anticipated single, visual for ‘Tick Tock’
