S. Samuel
R&B singer Chris Brown is destined to topple his music competition with reports showing the crooner's new Fortune album selling up to 135,000 albums in its opening week.
Based on first-day estimates, the project will easily be the number one album next week.
Chris Brown will score the #1 album next week, giving Sony Music its 20th week of occupying the top spot this year. And because the 4th of July is historically one of the lightest holidays in terms of music retail, new releases were scaled way back, with Brown’s is the only debut that will make the Top 15. To shake consumers out of their summer doldrums, Amazon did a multi-titled $1.99 Gold Box promotion, which we estimate generated sales north of a quarter-million albums on July 4th. As a result, a number of albums are way up this week. Here’s how it looks headed into the weekend: Chris Brown (RCA) 125-135k Justin Bieber (Island/IDJ) 80-90k Linkin Park (Warner Bros.) 70-80k Usher (RCA) 35-40k MMG Presents, Vol. 2 (Maybach) 30-35k The Black Keys (Nonesuch) 27-32k R. Kelly (RCA) 25-30k (HITS Daily Double)
The new album features guest features from Big Sean, Wiz Khalifa, Kevin McCall and Sabrina Antoinette.
1. Turn Up the Music (Produced by The Underdogs & Fuego) 2. Bassline (Produced by Pop Wansel, co-produced by Dayvi Jae) 3. Till I Die (Feat. Big Sean & Wiz Khalifa) (Produced by Danja) 4. Mirage (Feat. Nas) (Produced by Harmony, co-produced by Chris Brown) 5. Don’t Judge Me (Produced by The Messengers) 6. 2012 (Produced by Adonis, co-produced by Kevin “K-Mac” McCall) 7. Biggest Fan (Produced by The Runners, co-produced by The Monarch) 8. Sweet Love (Produced by Polow da Don & Jason “JP” Perry) 9. Strip (Feat. Kevin McCall) (Produced by Tha Bizness) 10. Stuck on Stupid (Produced by Brian “BK” Kennedy, co-produced by Dante Jones) 11. 4 Years Old (Produced by Polow Da Don & Tommy Hittz) 12. Party Hard/Cadillac (Interlude) (Feat. Sevyn) (Produced by Brian “BK” Kennedy & Boi-1da) 13. Don’t Wake Me Up (Produced by Benny & Alle Benassi, Free School & William Orbit, co-produced by Brian “BK” Kennedy) 14. Trumpet Lights (Feat. Sabrina Antoinette) (Produced by Polow Da Don, co-produced by Jerome “J Roc” Harmon) (Fortune)
Prior to getting pushed back, Chris Breezy’s LP was set to hit store shelves a couple months ago.
“Fortune” was initially slated for a May 8 bow, but was pushed back to July 3 in late April. Five singles from the album have been released so far, led by “Strip,” which came out in late 2011. The song reached No. 3 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, but none of its follow-up tracks have yet hit the top 10. “Sweet Love” has topped out at No. 27 while “Till I Die” rises 37-27 this week. (Billboard)
Recent speculation suggested the solo effort could be Brown’s final album.
“I’d like to thank Team Breezy, everybody who worked on any one of my albums,” the singer said while on stage, adding, “My last album that’s coming out in two days … I just want to thank all my fans. It’s dedicated to y’all. This one’s for y’all, man, I appreciate everything.” That part about his “last” album led some to believe the singer was indicating his plans to retire, but a rep for Brown explained things to RumorFix. “When [Chris] won his award, he thanked everyone who worked on his ‘last’ album — last meaning current. MTV ran a story saying he is retiring as they misunderstood what he said or implied. He is not retiring.” (RumorFix)
Check out some recent Chris Brown footage below:
