Jhené Aiko Scores First Billboard 200 No. 1 With ‘Westside Whimsy’

Jhené Aiko has earned the first No. 1 album of her career as Westside Whimsy opens at the top of the Billboard 200.

Jhené Aiko reached the milestone with Westside Whimsy, which earned 74,000 equivalent album units in the United States during the week ending September 17, according to Complex citing Billboard. The album leads the chart dated September 26.

Streaming drove most of the opening week, with 70,000 streaming-equivalent units representing 71.33 million official on-demand streams of the album’s songs. Traditional album sales accounted for another 3,500 units, while 500 came from track-equivalent album units.

The No. 1 arrives nearly 13 years after Aiko first reached the Billboard 200 with Sail Out, which debuted and peaked at No. 8 in 2013. Her 2020 album Chilombo previously came closest to the top spot when it debuted at No. 2 and later received an Album of the Year Grammy nomination.

Westside Whimsy was released September 11 with 20 tracks and a guest list that includes Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul, Tyga, Larry June and OHMA. Aiko also reunited with Kendrick Lamar on “So Good,” one of the album’s most closely watched collaborations.

The project also debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Streaming Albums chart. Aiko became the first female R&B artist to lead the Billboard 200 in 2026 and the first since SZA returned to No. 1 with SOS in May 2025.

For Aiko, the chart result turns a long-established catalog into a new career high. After years of top-10 releases and major R&B records, Westside Whimsy is now her first project to sit at the top of the Billboard 200.

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