S. Samuel
Rap mogul Jay-Z's Magna Carta Holy Grail album is already sitting on platinum as new reports claim both the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and Billboard have certified its massive bulk sales.
A new photo of Jay and music industry executives posing with a platinum Magna Carta Holy Grail plaque is starting to make its way online.
After hitting a million Samsung devices with his new album, Magna Carta Holy Grail, Jay-Z was certified platinum today by the R.I.A.A. and Billboard. The album dropped officially on July 4th on Samsung and hit stores today, the same day that Jay got his plaque. Not bad Hov, not bad. The album is well worth the certification, and the marketing plan behind it was pure genius. Congrats to Jay-Z, Roc Nation, and everyone involved! (Stupid Dope)
Stupid Dope
Industry sources have predicted the album will sell well over 300,000 copies.
Even though Jay-Z began giving away a million copies of his new album “Magna Carta Holy Grail” on July 4, the set is still bound for a big week once it goes on sale July 9. Industry sources suggest it might sell 350,000 – 400,000 by the end of the tracking week on Sunday, July 14. “Magna Carta’s” first-week sales forecast is based partly on how well the title is performing with pre-orders through digital retailers. It became available to pre-order via iTunes on July 4. (Billboard)
Billboard
The project would need to sell more than 476,000 copies in order to beat his 2009 The Blueprint 3‘s opening week numbers.
In turn, the album is seemingly a lock for No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart next week. It would mark Jay-Z’s 13th chart-topper, extending his record as the solo artist with the most No. 1 albums in history. (Only the Beatles, with 19 No. 1s, have more leaders.) “Magna Carta’s” retail release date comes five days after it became available for free to some Samsung photo and tablet users. Jay-Z’s last solo studio album, 2009’s “The Blueprint 3,” opened at No. 1 with 476,000 sold in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. He returned to the top slot in 2011 with the collaborative album “Watch the Throne” (with Kanye West). It started at No. 1 with 436,000. (Billboard)
Billboard
In light of one million copies recently being sold to Samsung to give away, RIAA director Liz Kennedy announced new changes to its certification process.
“By now, many of us in the music business, as well as Jay-Z fans, know that Samsung has purchased one million “Magna Carta Holy Grail” digital albums to be given away to the phone maker’s customers. It is a novel and creative marketing move and it has rightly stimulated a healthy conversation about the sale’s meaning and implications for the modern music business. For us, the move prompted a re-examination of our historic Gold & Platinum (G&P) Program award rules. As we dug through the records of audits, re-reviewed rules and consulted with our auditing firm of more than thirty years, Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman, we discovered one rule disparity that no longer makes sense.” (RIAA)
