The upcoming Billboard albums chart may be a mostly Florida battle come next week. One generation of Florida, the late Tom Petty is up against the new generation of Florida, Soundcloud rapper Lil Pump for the No. 1 spot. Due to a relatively thin release period, Tom Petty And The Heartbreaker’s Greatest Hits album, Lil Pump’s self-titled debut album and NF’s Perception could all rake in 50,000 equivalent album sales and fall in the top three spots on the chart.
The 1993 release saw a sizeable jump on last week’s chart after Petty died during a frenzy of media misreporting. The album features staples such as “Free Fallin,” “I Won’t Back Down,” and “American Girl” and reached new high with 84,000 equivalent albums sold last week. If it reaches No. 1, that would only be the second Petty record to reach the top of the Billboard 200 following 2014’s Hypnotic Eye, a shocking stat considering the legendary songwriter’s longevity.
For Lil Pump to overtake the generational rocker, it will take more than a few on-demand streams to catch him. Pump’s “Gucci Gang” single has made fans out of even his staunchest skeptics and has the support of ScHoolboy Q who took to Instagram to defend his tastes.
“‘Aw Q, why you listening to Lil Pump?’” Q said in the video. “Because b*tch, I ain’t born like you. I don’t listen to one style of music. N—-s always in my comments when I play Lil Pump. N—- I fuck with it.”
He continued, “Look, my favorite rapper Nas, but if you think I just want to listen to that style of music all day every day, you a f*cking idiot. And that’s probably why you in the same spot you stuck at. ‘Cause your mind ain’t open to new sh*t, different sh*t.”
We’ll see if Pump manages to shock the system when the final chart is revealed on Sunday.
