Lil Baby Achieves Career-Defining Milestone After 'It's Only Me' Chart Debut

Lil Baby has finally come through! His newest album, "It's Only Me," has debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.

The new achievement is a career-defining first for the Atlanta-born rapper, as this is his biggest No. 1 debut ever in his discography.

According to Billboard, the album has generated 216,000 album equivalent album units in its tracking week. Released last Oct. 14, "It's Only Me" earned 209,000 stream equivalent units - a combined total for all of the LP's 23 tracks. It sold 6,500 albums and track-equivalent units of 500.

So far, this puts Lil Baby on the list, making him the third biggest Hip Hop debut of 2022, trailing behind Future's "I Never Liked You," which debuted at 222,000 album-equivalent units, and Kendrick Lamar's "Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers" at 295,000 album equivalent units.

Interestingly, Lil Baby's new album "It's Only Me" has overshadowed his frequent collaborator, and close friend, Drake, on his own album, released this year, "Honestly, Nevermind," which only debuted at 204,000 album equivalent units.

Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, the album debuted at No. 3 on the UK Albums charts, his highest debuting album ever on the charts.

Comparing it to her sophomore effort, "My Turn," which also debuted at No. 1, the record only reaped 197,000 album equivalent units - 19,000 more than the second album. "Harder Than Ever," his debut studio album, only reached No. 3 and opened only at 71,000 album equivalent units.

Surely with "It's Only Me," Lil Baby has a record to beat for himself the next time around.

NME has given "It's Only Me" three out of five stars, noting that the album was "a few notches shy of greatness."

On the other hand, Pitchfork gave the record a rather conservative review, a 5.5/10, almost echoing NMe, as it described Lil Baby to have sounded "comfortable, uninspired, and indifferent on his latest album."

"It's a missed opportunity to flaunt his talent for vocal manipulation and emotional delivery," the review stated.

Lil Baby is set to earn another gramophone this year as his feature with Nicki Minaj, "Do We Have A Problem," is poised to win the Best Hip-Hop Song category at the upcoming 2023 GRAMMY Awards.