S. Samuel
Young Money stud Drake's run atop the sales chart may be cut short as new album projections have his Nothing Was The Same falling behind fellow crooner Justin Timberlake.
Based on the latest projections, Drizzy’s third solo album could be in for an epic battle with J. Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience 2 of 2.
YOUR TOP 15 (PLUS TWO): Justin Timberlake scores his second #1 album of 2013 with part 2 of The 20/20 Experience; you’ll note that part 1 of the set is a contender for this week’s Top 10. And between various Complete editions, explicit versions and whatnot, JT has no fewer than five titles on the iTunes Top 25 album chart at present. Consumers can’t apply their purchase of part 1 for a “complete my album” with the two-volume Complete Experience, by the way; they simply have to purchase the second volume. Here’s how it looks headed into the weekend: *Justin Timberlake, The 20/20 Experience 2 of 2 (RCA) 350-370k Drake (Young Money/Cash Money/Republic) 150-170k *Lorde (Republic) 110-120k (HITS Daily Double)
After a full seven days on store shelves, the new solo LP sold just under 660,000 copies this week.
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)
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)
