S. Samuel
Young Money's Drake has a lot to smile about these days after landing another chart-topping release with Nothing Was The Same dominating its competition.
After a full seven days on store shelves, the new solo LP sold just under 660,000 copies.
With 658,000 copies of Nothing Was The Same sold, Drake’s latest album easily scores a chart No. 1 (with more than five times as many copies sold at the No. 2 entry, Kings of Leon‘s Mechanical Bull). It will likely go on to sell many more copies as well, especially if songs like bonus track “Come Thru” are released as singles. It’s the second-best opening week of the year, after Justin Timberlake‘s 20/20 Experience sold 968,000. And it easily bests Jay Z‘s opening weeks sales of 527,000. (Complex)
A few days ago, weekend projections had the LP leveling off just under 700,000 copies.
YOUR TOP 15: Drake will unquestionably debut at #1, besting his previous first week of 631k. Here’s how the field looks as we ease into the weekend. *Drake (YM/CM/Republic) 670-695k *Kings of Leon (RCA) 115-120k *Cher (Warner Bros.) 65-70k *Elton John (Capitol) 45-50k Jack Johnson (Brushfire/Republic) 35-40k Luke Bryan (Capitol Nashville) 32-37k (HITS Daily Double)
Based on initial one-day estimates, Drizzy Drake’s third solo album was expected to push out up to 725,000 units.
Drake kicks off Q4 in earnest with what will be the second-biggest debut of the year so far. Although the hip-hop megastar’s first-week number will be massive, we’re duty-bound to note that Kings of Leon will also make some noise next week, and Cher’s new batch of EDM anthems is looking at a strong bow, as is another veteran superstar, Elton John, whose new one is earning some stellar reviews. Here are this week’s key new releases: Drake (YM/CM/Republic) 675-725k Kings of Leon (RCA) 115-125k Cher (Warner Bros.) 60-70k Elton John (Capitol) 40-50k Dream Theater (Roadrunner) 30-35k (HITS Daily Double)
Despite the anticipation and speculated emphasis on pushing out big sales, Drake recently said he was not losing sleep over the numbers game.
This time out, Drizzy says he’s going into the release date for his upcoming Nothing Was the Same with a clear mind. “Best advice I ever got is: No expectations lead to no disappointments. So I have no expectations,” the rapper told MTV News back in August as he was preparing for his big 2013 MTV Video Music Awards performance. NWTS doesn’t officially release until September 24, but the LP leaked onto the Internet very late on Sunday night. It was an issue that Drake has been anticipating. “Really, just more than September 24, I’m just excited whenever people get the music,” he told us. “The numbers, the sales, all that stuff it’s cool. I’m sure I’ll get into it on the day like, ‘How much did we sell,’ trying to figure it out, but aside from that, I’m just excited for people to hear the full body of work.” (MTV)
Back in November 2011, his sophomore album toppled its competition in week one.
Young Money star Drake’s Take Care debuted on the chart this week at No. 1, in front of Michael Buble‘s Christmas which sold 165,500 copies. According to Nielsen SoundScan, Drizzy’s new LP has sold 631,500 records in just a single week. (SOHH Sales Wrap)
