Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers set some records after its release last month. For what it’s worth, that shouldn’t be surprising as his loyal fan base spent five years waiting on a new body of work from him. For example, Kendrick broke Apple Music’s record for the most first-day streams by an album that was released in 2022. At the time of its release, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers had the biggest debut on the Billboard 200 chart in 2022. A few weeks later, Kendrick set a new record on the Billboard chart, but it’s not one we might have expected from him.
According to the publication, Kendrick’s “We Cry Together,” which features contributions from actress Taylour Paige, recorded the biggest single-week drop on the most recent edition of the Billboard 200 chart. The record dropped down a total of 81 spots — from No. 16 to No. 97 — between the May 24 and May 31 updates of the singles chart.
This big drop shouldn’t be surprising for a couple of reasons. First, B-side records on an album typically experience a big drop on the charts once the hype behind the album that they’re on dies out. Other songs from Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers have also experienced this. They include “Silent Hill” with Kodak Black which dropped from No. 7 to No. 49 in the past couple of weeks. Secondly, “We Cry Together” is a lengthy skit on Kendrick’s new album and it features the rapper in an extremely heated argument with his girlfriend, something that most listeners found uncomfortable to listen to. As a result, they most likely steered away from the record during future listens of Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers thus launching the song down the singles chart.
On the bright side, Kendrick’s Good Kid M.A.A.D. City recently became the only hip-hop studio album to spend 500 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart.