BigXthaPlug Lands His First No. 1 Rap Album as ‘Better Over Time’ Tops Billboard’s Top Rap Albums Chart
BigXthaPlug finally has his No. 1. The Dallas rapper’s new album “Better Over Time” debuts on top of Billboard’s Top Rap Albums chart dated November 14 — his first leader on that chart in four entries.
According to Billboard, the album opened with 35,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States during its first tracking week (October 29–November 5), with the figures tracked by Luminate. Streaming did the heavy lifting: 29,000 of those units came from streaming activity, representing 29.1 million official on-demand streams of the album’s songs, while traditional album sales added another 6,000 units.
The No. 1 ends a climb that kept stopping just short. His 2024 album “Take Care” debuted and peaked at No. 3 on Top Rap Albums, and 2025’s “I Hope You’re Happy” got to No. 2. This time, the Dallas-based rapper born Xavier Landum finished the job.
“Better Over Time” didn’t stop at one chart, either. It also opens at No. 2 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums — a new career peak for him there — at No. 1 on Independent Albums, and at No. 7 on the all-genre Billboard 200, matching his best showing on that chart. Ten of the album’s songs land on this week’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, led by “Burn,” his collaboration with Ava Max.
And he did it without a major label. Released October 30 through BigXthaPlug/UnitedMasters, the project put up its numbers as a fully independent release. The Hype Magazine separately reported 39 million global first-week streams for the album — a worldwide count, separate from Luminate’s U.S. figures above.
From Dallas to the top of the rap chart, with nobody’s machine behind it — “Better Over Time” turned out to be exactly what the title promised.
Sources: chart positions and first-week figures reported by Billboard, with data tracked by Luminate; global streaming figure reported by The Hype Magazine. Photo: BigXthaPlug promotional portrait.
