We can count on J. Cole to hit no. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with each new album he drops, and he didn’t disappoint with The Off-Season. The rapper’s latest studio effort became his sixth consecutive album to reach the top spot on the coveted chart.
The Off-Season easily hit no. 1 with 282,000 equivalent album units within the first week. To make the whole thing even more impressive, Cole scored the largest week for a hip-hop album in 2021, and the second-largest overall after Taylor Swift’s Fearless (Taylor’s Version).
The title of this album ties in with J. Cole’s basketball career, and he told Slam Magazine that it “symbolizes the work that it takes to get to the highest height” and “represents the many hours and months and years it took to get to top form”.
The Off-Season was released on May 14th, and it was preceded by singles “The Climb Back” and “Interlude”. He also promoted its release with a short documentary Applying Pressure: The Off-Season Documentary and announced it will be followed by his upcoming album The Fall Off.
