J. Cole grabs his seventh No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 as his new studio album, The Fall-Off, opens on top of the list dated Feb. 21. The set launches with 280,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States in the week ending Feb. 12, according to Luminate. That marks the largest week for any R&B or hip-hop album in nearly a year, since Playboi Carti’s MUSIC opened at No. 1 with 298,000 (March 29, 2025-dated chart). (R&B/hip-hop and R&B albums are defined as those that have hit or are eligible for Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and Top R&B Albums charts, respectively.)

J. Cole previously hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with The Off-Season (2021), KOD (2018), 4 Your Eyez Only (2016), 2014 Forest Hills Drive (2014), Born Sinner (2013) and Cole World: The Sideline Story (2011).

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 2,500 ad-supported or 1,000 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Feb. 21, 2026-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Feb. 18 (one day later than usual, due to the President’s Day holiday on Feb. 16). 

Of The Fall-Off’s 280,000 equivalent album units earned in the latest tracking week SEA units comprise 166,500 (equaling 169.5 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks; it debuts at No. 2 on Top Streaming Albums), album sales comprise 113,000 (it debuts at No. 2 on Top Album Sales) and TEA units comprise 500.

Sales of the album were enhanced by its availability on vinyl (in only one variant), marking the first time a J. Cole album has been issued on vinyl concurrent with its release across digital and streaming platforms. About 71% (or 80,000) of The Fall-Off’s first-week sales were vinyl purchases. That’s J. Cole’s biggest week ever on vinyl, and the largest sales week for any R&B/hip-hop album on vinyl in a year. The last larger sales week for an R&B/hip-hop vinyl album was when Kendrick Lamar’s GNX was issued on vinyl for the first time, selling 87,000 copies (chart dated Feb. 22, 2025).

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published. S: Billboard