Photo by Kevin Winter

Kendrick Lamar's new album DAMN. has surpassed expectations, debuting with a massive 603,000 equivalent album units in its first week.

That's more than enough to earn the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 chart and topple Drake's More Life and take the crown for this year's biggest debut. According to Nielsen SoundScan, Drizzy's set moved 505,000 in its first week.

As we previously reported, DAMN. had originally been projected to start with 475,000 units in the sales tracking week ending on April 20. It was quickly adjusted to a forecast of around 550,000, but it ultimately beat even those numbers.

In addition to eclipsing Drake for the biggest debut of the year thus far, DAMN. also outpaced Ed Sheeran's ÷ [Divide] for the biggest week in traditional album sales, launching with 353,000, compared to Sheeran's 322,000 last month. This also marks Lamar's own best sales week, topping the 2015 debut of To Pimp of Butterfly (324,000).