They called it Super Tuesday. No, we’re not electing a President. We’re talking about albums purchased. June 18th was set to be a major day in hip-hop as a susperstar, went head to head with a rising star and an indie fan favorite. Kanye West’s 6th album, “Yeezus,” hit stores today along side J.Cole’s “Born Sinner” and Mac Miller’s, “Watching Movies With The Sound Off.“
All three albums and artists had solid fan bases who were expected to support their artists and the did. The early numbers are in and they look like this.
“Yeezus” album is selling strongly — though not quite as brisk as anticipated. Industry sources forecast that the set could sell 360,000 to 380,000 by the end of the tracking week on Sunday, June 23. That’s off from the 500,000 that some prognosticators had forecast on June 14.
While West’s “Yeezus” may start slower than any of his previous solo sets, it should still lock up a No. 1 bow on next week’s Billboard 200 chart. It will earn West his sixth consecutive No. 1 album — and sixth chart-topper overall.
In the runner-up slot on next week’s Billboard 200 will likely be J. Cole’s second album “Born Sinner,” which has blown past early sales forecasts of 150,000 to 200,000. At the present, sources say it should sell 270,000 to 290,000 — with 300,000 easily in reach. To compare, J. Cole’s first album, 2011′s “Cole World: The Sideline Story,” opened at No. 1 with 217,000 sold.
Mac Miller’s “Watching Movies With the Sound Off” is also selling well, as it could move around 100,000. Yet, that would mark a lower start than his last effort, 2011′s No. 1-debuting “Blue Slide Park” (144,000).
If West, Cole and Miller all sell 100,000 of their respective albums this week, it will be the first time since November 2006 that we’ve had three hip-hop albums debut with 100,000 or more. That Thanksgiving week saw the release of Jay-Z’s “Kingdom Come” (680,000), Snoop Dogg’s “Tha Blue Carpet Treatment” (264,000) and 2Pac’s “Pac’s Life” (159,000).
SOURCE: Billboard











