Every Kendrick Lamar Album, Ranked
Kendrick Lamar's albums go on one ballot here, to rank as whole records heard start to finish. Each studio album credited to him is in, the ones you'd skip too, and nothing else: Overly Dedicated and the older tapes are mixtapes, Black Panther: The Album a soundtrack. untitled unmastered. is out as a compilation of To Pimp a Butterfly session demos; Section.80, released as his debut studio album, is in. The tier uses Complex, Dazed, The Independent, Rough Trade, RUN IT, HotNewHipHop, Hip Hop Hero, Transistor and NO MAJESTY, and each item's tally runs over the rankings dated from its release day onward, as none printed earlier places the record. Four or more top-three placings from eligible rankings lift a record into the upper tier, fewer leave it below, and with membership settled the vote orders each tier. Spotify's earliest copy gets the link, picked by tracklist length and titles, never by the year its page prints, and if it isn't clean the item says what it adds or cuts.
Kendrick Lamar — good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012) is #1 on “Every Kendrick Lamar Album, Ranked”.
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Kendrick Lamar — good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012)
Interscope, Top Dawg and Dr. Dre's Aftermath released it on October 22, 2012, and its first week moved 242,000 copies in the US, enough for a Billboard 200 debut at number two. Sing About Me, I'm Dying Of Thirst runs twelve minutes and three seconds. Complex and NO MAJESTY put it first, and all 9 eligible rankings place it third or higher, so it clears the tier line with room to spare.
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Kendrick Lamar — DAMN. (2017)
Fourteen titles in capitals, each closed by a full stop, the last a true story. DUCKWORTH. tells how his father Ducky, at a Kentucky Fried Chicken drive-thru, handed Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith free chicken and extra biscuits until Tiffith dropped his plan to rob it. Hip Hop Hero puts it first and Dazed seventh of the eight it ranks, and 5 of the 9 that could rank it count it among their top three, enough for the upper tier.
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Kendrick Lamar — To Pimp a Butterfly (2015)
It went up on iTunes and Spotify eight days early, on March 15, 2015, and iTunes took it down the next day. Mortal Man closes on a staged conversation with Tupac Shakur, his answers cut from a 1994 interview on the Swedish radio show P3 Soul. It is first on 6 of the 9 rankings and top three on 9 of 9, which makes the upper tier a formality.
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Kendrick Lamar — Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers (2022)
Eighteen songs in two sets of nine, Big Steppers then Mr. Morale, with Whitney Alford and Eckhart Tolle credited as narrators, a little over five years after DAMN. Mirror closes that sequence, and Spotify's carrier then adds The Heart Part 5, the stand-alone single, as a bonus track. Transistor and NO MAJESTY both predate its release, which cuts its denominator to 7, and 3 of 7 rate it top three, one short of the line.
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Kendrick Lamar — GNX (2024)
Named for a Buick model, with the mariachi singer Deyra Barrera on its first and last tracks. The closer, gloria (with sza), is an ode to writing, built on his relationship with a personified pen. Four of the nine rankings predate its late-November 2024 release, so 5 could place it, and 0 of those 5 rank it above fourth, its spot on each being fourth or fifth, a tight spread sitting under the line.
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Kendrick Lamar — Section.80 (2011)
Five thousand US copies across its opening week, a Billboard 200 entry at number 113, and a platinum certification in January 2026. J. Cole produced HiiiPower, the lead single and the closer. Spotify's edition runs 15 tracks because The Spiteful Chant, with Schoolboy Q, came off streaming services in August 2019. NO MAJESTY's second place, from a 2021 piece updated the next year, is its one top-three finish, so the count is 1 of 9.
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How this list was ranked
Readers rank this list by voting items up and down. Items are ordered by reader votes.
