Lil Baby is now a full-on rap behemoth. Billboard unleashed its controversial ranking of the greatest R&B/Hip-Hop albums of the 21st century earlier, and Lil Baby’s “My Turn” comes out on top, a decision that has ignited discussions throughout the music industry.
“My Turn,” Lil Baby’s second studio album, which dropped in February 2020, was a boldly stated piece of work in his career. With prominent features from acts including Gunna, 42 Dugg, Future, Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Wayne, Moneybagg Yo, Young Thug, and Rylo Rodriguez, the album intersperses street-savvy rapping with radio-ready hooks. Perhaps surprisingly, “The Bigger Picture” found Lil Baby offering social commentary and ultimately earned two nominations on the 2021 Grammy ballot, cementing his status beyond simple chart metrics.
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Billboard’s measure counted performances on weekly charts from January 1, 2000, to December 28, 2024. Their analysis found that “My Turn” was especially dominant on streaming platforms, where it spent six weeks at No. 1 and generated three top-10 singles on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The album also broke records for its longevity, spending 85 weeks in the chart’s top 10 and becoming the first album to hit 100 such weeks since the chart began in 1965.
The lineup, meanwhile, was full of heavyweights, illustrating the changing face of rap and R&B in the 21st century. Other top 10 albums included Drake’s Take Care, Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN., good kid, m.A.A.d city, SZA’s SOS, Juice WRLD’s Goodbye & Good Riddance, Post Malone’s Hollywood’s Bleeding, The Weeknd’s The Highlights, and Pop Smoke’s Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon. Yet all that talent couldn’t compete with the star-studded cast on “My Turn,’ which held the crown, showcasing the album’s reach in streaming culture and across the broader music world.
The ranking has been debated by critics and fans, some of whom lauded Lil Baby as reaching a milestone that captures the ascendancy of streaming-driven success in modern hip-hop. Others have raised an eyebrow, pointing to classic albums with far more cultural history. Regardless, My Turn’s residence at No. 1 is an affirmation of Lil Baby’s supremacy in today’s rap moment. As hip-hop constantly reconfigures its contours, “My Turn” by Lil Baby can be seen as both a validation of and for the culture, a measurement of what counts as a star in today’s music.
