Kanye West’s The College Dropout & Late Registration Make Big Billboard Comeback

Kanye West is considered a genius when it comes to being a businessman and also as an artist. Kanye West is riding the wave of the release of Donda 2. The album was released exclusively for Kanye’s Stem Player device. It seems a couple of his albums from the past also benefitted from the hype

The College Dropout and Late Registration, Kanye West’s first two albums, are seeing a revival on the Billboard 200 chart. Kanye West’s 2004 first album The College Dropout went from No. 109 to No. 36 on the Billboard 200 in the most recent chart update, hitting its best rank in 17 years.

According to Chart Data, the Chicago rap icon’s sophomore album Late Registration, which was released in 2005, has re-entered the Billboard 200 at No. 185, marking its first appearance on the chart in over five years. The release of the first two parts of Kanye West’s Netflix documentary Jeen-Yuhs, which covers the tale of his early career and the development of The College Dropout, coincided with the rise of both albums.

In August 2005, Late Registration was released and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, selling about 860,000 copies in its first week. Kanye West referred to himself as backpacker while addressing The College Dropout in a rare interview with Emixshow in 2003.

It’s called College Dropout, and it’s supposed to come out this summer. It’s been moved up because people at Def Jam are really liking it. I don’t want no hip-hoppers to miss out on it. Not doin’ sh-t that is supposed to be for the culture is what I do for the culture. Anything you try and say, I’m gonna flip and get sarcastic. If I was on Rawkus, I would say I’m a gangsta rapper. If I was on Roc-A-Fella, I would say I’m a backpacker. But I’m all of them. I’m not even one person.

The College Dropout debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in February 2004, selling around 441,000 copies in its first week. The debut of his new album Donda 2, which, unlike the rest of Kanye’s repertoire, is presently only available via his $200 stem player, has drawn attention to his past songs.