Kendrick Lamar's Official biggest songs in the UK

After surprise-releasing his sixth album GNX on Friday, Kendrick Lamar is battling Michael Kiwanuka for Number 1 on this week's Official Albums Chart. 

Mercury Prize winner Michael was in the lead at the start of the week with his fourth album, Small Changes, but Kendrick's GNX wasn't far behind. 

Either way, Kendrick's surprise album drop is typical of an artist who's built a reputation as an industry maverick and a generational talent. 

When he won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music, Kendrick became the first musician outside of the classical and jazz genres to be honoured by this prestigious guild.

MORE: Where every Kendrick Lamar album and song has charted in the UK

To whet our appetite for Friday's race to Number 1, we've crunched the numbers to find Kendrick's biggest songs ever on the UK's Official Singles Chart.

But before we reveal the chart in full, let's take a closer look at the Top 3.

3. The Greatest (with Sia)

Released: 2016
Official Singles Chart peak: Number 5
Total UK chart units: 1.4 million

This empowering electro-bop originally appeared on the deluxe edition of Sia's seventh studio album, This Is Acting. When it was released as a single, Kendrick added a rap that echoes the song's message of strength and perseverance. "Letdowns'll get you, and the critics'll test you," he raps. "But the strong'll survive, another scar may bless you." It's a stirring contribution to an already swaggering song.

2. Humble

Released: 2017
Official Singles Chart peak: Number 6
Total UK chart units: 1.8 million

Sit down! The lead single from Kendrick's fourth album Damn. is a plea for humility – aimed at himself. Along the way, he finds time to criticise society's increasingly skewed beauty standards by telling us he's "sick and tired of the Photoshop" and craving "something natural" like pictures with "stretch marks". Seven years after it stormed the Top 10, Humble feels more relevant than ever.

1. All the Stars (with SZA)

Released: 2018
Official Singles Chart peak: Number 5
Total UK chart units: 1.9 million 

Kendrick teamed up with SZA for this anthemic rap banger from the Black Panther soundtrack. The superhero movie starring Michael B. Jordan and the late, great Chadwick Boseman was a billion dollar-grossing blockbuster, and this atmospheric single also captured the collective imagination, offering a star turn for SZA on the verses. It was even nominated for Best Original Song at the Academy Awards, but lost out to A Star Is Born's Shallow by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. 

In Kendrick's all-time list, All The Starts comes out on top as his biggest-seller in the UK, and also ranks as his most-streamed too, with 213 million combined streams.