3121 was Prince’s last album to debut at number one on the Billboard 200. Released on March 21, 2006, it opened with more than 180,000 copies sold in the United States and became the only Prince album to debut atop the chart during his lifetime.
The album marked a major late-career comeback. It followed Musicology, which had revived Prince’s commercial profile in 2004, and was released through NPG Records under a one-album distribution deal with Universal. Its title is pronounced “thirty-one twenty-one” and refers to the Los Angeles house Prince rented at 3121 Antelo Road.
The title track, “3121,” opens the album with a hard-edged funk sound, while “Te Amo Corazón” and “Black Sweat” served as early singles. The album displaced the High School Musical soundtrack at number one and gave Prince his first chart-topping album since the Batman soundtrack in 1989. Musicology is a common mix-up because it was a major commercial success, but it did not debut at number one.