There’s never been a better time to be Tyler, The Creator. After his impromptu London show was swarmed by so many fans it had to be shut down for safety reasons, the IGOR rapper sold out two Brixton dates so quickly he had to announce a third. To top it all off, he’s just scored his first number one album. It really is all coming up Tyler.
This weekend Tyler beat DJ Khaled’s Father of Asahd to top the Billboard 200 for the first time ever. While his previous album, 2017’s Flower Boy debuted at number 2, it must be pretty sweet to finally bag that top spot. And not only is it a first time for Tyler, it’s a record-breaking number one as well. With the success of IGOR the musician has become the first solo rapper ever (ever!) to get a Billboard number 1 for an entirely self-produced and arranged album. According to hip-hop stat account @HipHopNumbers, “69 rappers have gone No.1 on the Billboard 200” and “No-one has done this before.”
Tyler posted the accolade on his Instagram story (as did his pal Solange), drawing attention to the fact that he’s well up for producing for other artists too. “Now who gone take a chance a let me produce for them,” he captioned the screenshot. Well, presumably a lot of people.
It’s an achievement made even sweeter by this weekend’s serendipitous timing, too. As Tyler’s star was climbing, Theresa May’s was at last, falling. On Friday he tweeted “theresa, gone, I’m back”, referencing her decision to ban him from the UK in 2015 as then-Home Secretary, which led to the cancellation of British tour dates for his album Cherry Bomb.
Seems like a fair trade to us. Tyler for PM? Job’s open, after all.