Over the weekend, hip-hop Twitter went into a frenzy in a debate surrounding the first-week sales of Kendrick Lamar's Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. In the past five years since DAMN., Kendrick has released limited music and fans have been left speculating what direction he'll be going in next. Some predicted that Kendrick would move one million units in his first week due to the anticipation, while others used a bit more critical thinking before spewing out numbers on Twitter.
Either way, it remains too early to predict how much Kendrick Lamar will be able to move in its debut week. After all, the album has yet to hit DSPs. However, Hits Daily Double did share an industry forecast of what Kendrick could accomplish with Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. The album could move upwards of 350K, largely off of streams. At this point, Kendrick hasn't announced the release of physical copies which will likely hinder that number from significantly growing.
Kendrick Lamar's DAMN. had a massive debut week in 2017 when bundles and pure sales held significant weight on the charts. The album moved upwards of 603K units in its first week, largely coming from pure sales. 353K came from pure sales while the remaining 227K came from streaking.
Kendrick Lamar announced his forthcoming project on Monday, revealing the album's title and release date. What's even more surprising is that the album will likely be released under his new moniker Oklama.