Sean Combs discography

The discography of American rapper Sean Combs (known professionally under the pseudonyms Puffy, Puff Daddy, P. Diddy or Diddy) consists of five studio albums, two collaborative albums, one remix album and seventy-two singles – including thirty-three as a lead artist and thirty-nine as a featured artist.

Combs began his career in the music industry working as an intern at the New York-based record label Uptown Records. He served as executive producer for Mary J. Blige's first two albums—What's the 411? (1992) and My Life (1994)–and was assigned artists and repertoire duties for R&B act Jodeci. In 1993, he was fired from Uptown Records and promptly launched his own label, Bad Boy Records shortly after. He also took a then-unknown Uptown signee, the Notorious B.I.G., along with him to the newly established label. In August 1994, the Notorious B.I.G. released the song "Juicy"; produced by Combs and one of the labels first releases, it became one of the most successful and influential songs in hip hop music. Combs served as the primary producer of B.I.G.'s debut studio album and the label's first LP release: Ready to Die (1994), along with its follow-up singles — "Big Poppa" and "One More Chance."

Following B.I.G.'s success during his lifetime, Combs become widely known as his manager and hype man, justifying Combs himself debuting a lead performer with his 1996 single "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down." Prior, he made recording appearances on Super Cat's 1993 single "Dolly My Baby" and Lil' Kim's 1996 single "No Time," but predominantly acted as a record producer or backing vocalist. "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down"—which also introduced Combs' next protégé Mase—proved to be commercially successful, peaking atop the Billboard Hot 100 by August of the following year, where it remained for six consecutive weeks. By this time, the Bad Boy label had signed other acts including Faith Evans, Total, the Lox, 112, Black Rob, Craig Mack, and Carl Thomas.

In March 1997, the Notorious B.I.G. was fatally shot by an unknown assailant, prompting Combs to make his second commercial single a tribute song titled "I'll Be Missing You", with guest appearances from Bad Boy members Faith Evans and R&B group 112. The song became the first ever hip hop song to debut atop the Billboard Hot 100, peaked the charts in 15 other countries, and won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group; it remains one of the best selling singles of all time. The song and its parent album of which it preceded, No Way Out in July 1997, have yielded Combs' furthest critical and commercial success. The album was credited to "Puff Daddy & the Family", which referred to Combs and other Bad Boy signees, who were showcased extensively.

1997 was the year in which Combs spent the most weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 out of any musical act that year, with 19 weeks, and 26 when including the Combs-produced songs "Hypnotize" by B.I.G. and "Honey" by Mariah Carey. Furthermore, he became the first hip hop artist to replace himself at the position, with "Mo Money Mo Problems" replacing "I'll Be Missing You" the following week. In 1998, Combs released the singles "Victory" (featuring the Notorious B.I.G. and Busta Rhymes) and "Come with Me" (featuring Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page) for the Godzilla soundtrack, while also cultivating acts on the Bad Boy label and producing material for other artists.

Combs' second and third studio albums, Forever (1999) and The Saga Continues... (2001) were met with commercial success, albeit less than his previous work, and generally mixed reviews. By this point and onward, Combs and Bad Boy Records received criticism for being seen as the leading exploiter of the dumbing down and over-commercialization of hip hop, as well as over-reliance on guest appearances and samples of older hits. Critics would often praise the production value and catchiness, but become weary of Combs' public figure and character, citing the remarkably shallow nature of his lyrical persona, along with an overall lack of originality; many gave credence to a style over substance argument.

Combs' fourth album, Press Play (2006), peaked atop Billboard 200, becoming his second and final release to do so. In 2009, he formed the musical group Diddy – Dirty Money with R&B singers Kalenna Harper and Dawn Richard. They signed with Bad Boy, which was an imprint of Interscope Records at the time, as a collaborative act and released four singles—"Love Come Down", "Angels", "Hello Good Morning" (featuring T.I.), "Loving You No More" (featuring Drake)—to moderate success. Their fifth single, "Coming Home" (featuring Skylar Grey) was released in November 2010 and peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100. The following month, their debut studio album, Last Train to Paris (2010) was released to critical and commercial success—peaking at number seven on the Billboard 200. Despite this, the trio disbanded two years later, and Combs has since admitted that the album's reception, which he deemed to be disappointing, dampened his musical inspiration for several years.