The album's lead single, "Southside", was released for digital download on May 8, 2018, along with the music video.[3] The song was produced by Southside. The music video was directed by Edgar Esteves.[4]
The album's second single, "Yes Indeed" with Drake, was released on May 15, 2018.[5] The song was produced by Wheezy.[6]
Harder Than Ever was met with generally positive reviews. At Album of the Year, the album received an average score of 70 out of 100, based on two reviews.[10]
Evan Rytlewski at Pitchfork gave the album mixed a review giving it 6.6 out of 10. Although he ended describing Lil Baby's debut, "Technically impressive: polished, efficient, but also kind of nondescript". He also stated that "Baby’s rapping isn’t any flashier than his fashion sense. He rhymes in a tuneful, half-sung stream of thought, sort of like a more nuanced Rich Homie Quan. On a purely technical level, he’s impressive."[9]
Commercial performance
Harder Than Ever debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 chart, earning 71,000 album-equivalent units (including 6,000 copies in pure album sales) in its first week.[11] This became Lil Baby's first US top ten debut on the chart.[11] In its second week, the album dropped to number seven on the chart, earning an additional 45,000 units.[12] In its third week, the album dropped to number nine on the chart, moving 37,000 more units.[13] In its fourth week, the album remained at number nine, earning 34,000 units, bringing its four-week total to 184,000 album-equivalent units.[14] As of December 2018, the album has earned 717,000 album-equivalent units in the US.[15] On February 28, 2020, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales and album-equivalent units of over a million units in the United States.[16]
