Posted by Rod Wave is celebrating on Easter Sunday (April 4).
The Florida singer’s third album Soulfly sits at the top of the Billboard 200 chart with over 130,000 total equivalent-album units earned. It’s Rod’s first No. 1 on the chart after his previous two efforts Ghetto Gospel in 2019 and Pray 4 Love in 2020 both debuted in the Top 10.
According to Billboard, Soulfly is the biggest Hip Hop/R&B album of 2021 thus far in terms of equivalent album units earned and netted over 189 million on-demand streams, also the most for a Hip Hop/R&B album. In addition, it’s the second album within the last five months from a Hip Hop perspective to debut at No. 1. Playboi Carti held Hip Hop’s last No. 1 album when he released Whole Lotta Red on Christmas Day 2020.
Rod shared the good news on Instagram Saturday (April 3), posting a graphic of Soulfly‘s album art with the unofficial sales total.
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Buoyed by tracks such as “Tombstone” and “Street Runner,” the release is a continued sales improvement for Rod as Soulfly nearly doubled the sales of Pray 4 Love. The sophomore effort debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with roughly 72,000 total album-equivalent units earned.
Rod Wave Cut His Own Verse Off Drake’s ‘Lemon Pepper Freestyle’
Even though Rod preaches a “Rags 2 Riches” type of lifestyle, he nearly secured one of the biggest features of his young career courtesy of Drake. Before Rick Ross landed on the final version of the 6 God’s “Lemon Pepper Freestyle,” the honor belonged to Rod but ultimately, he backed off due to a small issue with his vocals.
“I was supposed to be on [“Lemon Pepper Freestyle”] but I didn’t like how my verse came out,” the Florida crooner told Apple Music’s The Plug Radio. “So I kind of scratched it. I didn’t like how my voice came out and you know with a Drake feature, you don’t want to, you know what I’m saying?”