00:00Jene Aiko earns her first number one album with West Side Whimsy.
00:04Jene Aiko has earned her first number one album on the Billboard 200 with West Side
00:09Whimsy.
00:10Released September 11th, the project debuted with 74,000 equivalent album units, including
00:1671.33 million official on-demand streams.
00:20The achievement surpasses her previous number two peak with 2020's Chalambo, marking Aiko's
00:26biggest Billboard 200 accomplishment after more than a decade of chart appearances.
00:32The achievement caps a Billboard 200 climb that began with Sail Out in 2013, which peaked
00:39at number eight on the charts.
00:41Her 2017 album Trip reached number five, and her 2020 album Chalambo debuted at number two,
00:47earning three Grammy nominations but stopping just short of number one.
00:51West Side Whimsy has now completed that climb, moving Aiko from number two to number one six
00:57years after Chalambo.
00:59West Side Whimsy features 20 songs and brings together Aiko with several notable artists including
01:04Kendrick Lamar on So Good, Larry June on Neighbors, Absoul on Love Bomb, and Tyga on Like Whatever.
01:12The Lamar collaboration was especially significant for long-time fans as the two artists had not
01:17collaborated in nearly 13 years.
01:20West Side Whimsy draws heavily from Aiko's Los Angeles roots, blending Southern California
01:26influences, 1990's music, beaches, surfing, road trips, relationships, self-reflection,
01:33and diverse collaborations across 20 tracks.
01:36West Side Whimsy debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming the first R&B album by a woman
01:43to top the chart in 2026, with 74,000 equivalent units.
01:49Aiko's West Side Whimsy surpasses Chalambo, earning her first Billboard 200 number one nearly
01:5513 years after her debut.
01:57Aiko's long-awaited West Side Whimsy debuted at number one, marking her highest Billboard 200
02:02position and highlighting her enduring connection to Los Angeles.
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