S. Samuel
Grammy-winning rapper Jay-Z and Kanye West's Watch the Throne joint album first-week records sales have reportedly increased to over 500,000 units.
Originally projected to push 450,000 copies, Jay and Ye’s album will now easily top next week’s sales chart.
The Roc-a-Fella/Roc Nation hip-hop icons’ Watch the Throne album is set for a #1 debut with anywhere from 500-550k, the second-largest first-week sales of the year next to Lady Gaga. Veteran Roadrunner Orlando heavy metal rockers Trivium’s fifth studio album, In Waves, its first since 2008’s Shogun, will debut with 20-25k, the same total expected for Def Jam/IDJ rapper Ace Hood, inked to DJ Khaled‘s We the Best Music Group label, on his third studio album, Blood, Sweat & Tears. Asylum/WB’s Atlanta-based Gucci Mane & Waka Flocka Flame are next up with an estimated total of 15-18k for their Southern-drenched collab, Ferrari Boyz. (HITS Daily Double)
While the project released exclusively via iTunes on Monday (August 8), it will hit additional retail outlets later this week.
“Watch the Throne,” which miraculously didn’t leak to the Web as so many eagerly-awaited albums have over the years, is exclusive to iTunes until Friday, Aug. 12. That’s when all other retailers — physical and digital — will start selling “Watch.” Of course, most brick-and-mortar retailers could opt to ignore the official street date and begin selling the CD as soon as they receive it, which may be as early as Wednesday. (Billboard)
This week, Def Jam’s Director of Digital Marketing Jycorri Robinson talked about the project’s inability to leak.
“Kanye and Jay are just very tight with the music,” he explained in an interview “Even so far as to where they’ve been, Kanye and Jay have been at every listening session, every event, that there has been and that’s because they’re holding that music so tight to them. There hasn’t been [any] copies floating around the [DefJam] office ’cause that shit is in a vault. They just took it back to the old school, man. They recorded the entire album together; no verses emailed back and forth. It’s just tight eyes on it, only one or two people having access to it.” (XXL Mag)
A few days ago, Jay’s manager John Meneilly promised the LP would not illegally spill onto the Internet.
With less than a week to go before Watch the Throne hits iTunes, don’t expect any leaks. Those hoping to get their hands on Jay-Z and Kanye West’s collaborative album early are in for disappointment. “It is not going to leak,” tweeted a confident John Meneilly, Jay-Z’s manager. In order to prevent the album from leaking in advance, digital and physical release dates were staggered. (Rap-Up)
Check out a recent Jay-Z interview below:
