Jhené Aiko Finally Lands a No. 1 Album, 13 Years After Her Chart Debut, With Kendrick Lamar Along for the Ride

Jhené AikoR&B · Los AngelesArtist profile →

Jhené Aiko waited 12 years and 10 months for a No. 1 album. Westside Whimsy, her first full studio album in six years, debuts atop the Billboard 200 dated Sept. 26 with 74,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Sept. 17, Billboard reports, citing Luminate. It beat the roughly 62,000 units that tracking projections had suggested, per Complex.

The milestone has some history attached. It's the first R&B album by a woman to lead the chart in 2026 and the first to hit No. 1 since SZA's SOS finished a 13th and final week on top in May 2025. The only other R&B album to reach the top this year was Bruno Mars's The Romantic (the chart dated March 14). It is also Aiko's sixth Billboard 200 top 10, dating to Sail Out, which debuted and peaked at No. 8 in November 2013.

The numbers

Of the 74,000 units, 70,000 came from streaming, equal to 71.33 million on-demand official streams, and the album opens at No. 1 on Top Streaming Albums. Album sales added 3,500 (digital only for now, as physical editions are due in January) and track equivalents 500. Billboard also notes that Aiko is the second act in 2026 to wait at least 10 years from a first Billboard 200 appearance to a first No. 1, after Megadeth. Among women, only Solange has waited longer: 13 years and eight months before A Seat at the Table in 2016.

Kendrick, and the rest of the guests

The 20-track album arrived Sept. 11, only three days after Aiko announced it, with a short guest list: Ab-Soul, Larry June, Ohma, Tyga and Kendrick Lamar. Lamar is on “So Good,” which reunites the two West Coast artists. (Our report on the song has the details.) The set is also the follow-up to Chilombo, which debuted at No. 2 in 2020 and was nominated for Album of the Year at the Grammys.

Westside WhimsyJhené AikoListen on Apple Music

Aiko celebrated on Instagram by thanking listeners, then told fans, “What’s mine is ours,” HotNewHipHop reports.

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The rest of the top 10 is quiet. Westside Whimsy is the only debut, and the Nos. 2-8 slots are all former No. 1s. Ella Langley's Dandelion drops to No. 2 with a little more than 60,000 units, down 11%, and Olivia Rodrigo's you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love slips to No. 3 at 60,000.

What's next: physical editions are due in January.

Added to the High Grailed archive on October 12, 2026.