J. Cole is back atop the Billboard 200 albums chart once again.

On Sunday (May 23), the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart was unveiled, revealing J. Cole's new album, The Off-Season, unsurprisingly debuted at No. 1. Cole ended the week with an impressive 282,000 equivalent album units with 2,000 traditional albums.

This is the biggest rap album of 2021 with five months into the year so far. Cole's new LP more than doubled the first week of Rod Wave's SoulFly album, the previous best with 130,000 EAU in its first week. Even more impressive, this also marks the sixth straight No. 1 album for Cole.

Cole World: The Sideline Story sold 218,000 units in its first week of release in 2011, Born Sinner sold 297,000 in 2013, 2014 Forest Hills Drive sold 353,000 in 2014, 4 Your Eyez Only sold 492,000 in 2016, and KOD sold 397,000 in 2018.

Cole's new album features 12 songs. Unlike his previous projects, the North Carolina rapper chose to collaborate on this effort, using guest vocals from 21 Savage, Morray, Lil Baby, Cam'ron, Diddy, 6lack and others, which appear uncredited on the album. For production, Cole taps Timbaland, Boi-1da, DJ Dahi, Jake One and more. Cole, who is currently in Rwanda playing professional basketball, celebrated his latest No. 1 on social media on May 21.

"Sending a thank you from Rwanda! #1 album, I appreciate the love, i heard the noise from out here," the Dreamville Records boss posted on Twitter. "The off-season means keep pushing yourself, I will do the same."

J. Cole's The Off-Season album.
Dreamville / Roc Nation Records
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Other hip-hop artists moving enough units to place in this week's Billboard 200 top 10 include Nicki Minaj (Beam Me Up Scotty, No. 2), MoneyBagg Yo (A Gangsta's Pain, No. 3), DJ Khaled (Khaled Khaled, No. 8) and Pop Smoke (Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon, No. 10).

Nicki Minaj Beam Me Up Scotty mixtape
Republic Records
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Moneybagg Yo's A Gangsta's Pain album.
N-Less Entertainment / Interscope Records
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dj khaled khaled khaled album art
Epic Records
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pop smoke shoot for the stars aim for the moon album
Victor Victor Worldwide
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See Hip-Hop Albums Turning 10 in 2021

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