Late Registration

Late Registration (2005) is the second studio album by the American rapper Kanye West. It was released on August 30, 2005, through Roc-A-Fella Records and Def Jam Recordings.

Late Registration appeared on year-end best album lists for 2005 by numerous publications, including being named the best album of the year by Spin, Time, and USA Today.

In its first week of release, Late Registration debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with first week sales of 860,000 copies, selling over 600,000 more copies than Tony Yayo's album Thoughts of a Predicate Felon at number two. This stood as West's first chart-topping album in the United States and gave him first-week sales nearly double those of The College Dropout. The album had the highest-selling first week sales in the US for two years, until West's next album Graduation suprassed it in September 2007 by selling 957,000 copies. The former's first-week sales also ranked as the seventh largest for a rap album up to March 3, 2020. In Late Registration's second week, it remained atop the Billboard 200 and sold an additional 283,000 copies, resulting in more than 1,140,000 copies sold within the first two weeks on the chart. In early 2006, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) awarded the album a triple platinum certification, indicating sales of 3,000,000 copies in the US. In June 2013, Late Registration reached 3,100,000 copies sold in the US. On July 21, 2022, it was certified five-times platinum by the RIAA for sales of 5,000,000 album-equivalent units in the country.