We saw two notable debuts on this week's charts, and they tell very different stories. The first comes from underground hero, Tech N9ne, who managed to have his biggest sales week ever, coming in at number 4. Meanwhile, Ciara, who has both a hit and major label backing, only earned a number 17 debut. Generally, we see artists with cult-like fanbases fall off pretty hard after their first couple of weeks, so CiCi may end up selling more in the long run, but Tech does seem to be something of a special case.
Check out the full breakdown below.
1) Tech N9ne—Special Effects: Tech N9ne experienced his biggest sales week ever, coming in at number 4 and selling 58,388 copies of Special Effects (66,087 excluding streams)
2) Various Artists— Furious 7: The OST sticks within the top 10 at number 7, still relying mainly on streams. It doesn't hurt that Wiz is still ruling the Hot 100. The album pulls in 11,508 in traditional sales this week, and 45,944 including streams.
3) Drake—If You're Reading This It's Too Late: Drizzy has officially pulled ahead of J. Cole in sales this week, making his "mixtape" the highest selling rap album of 2014 or 2015. He's moved 896,511 copies so far, with 15,109 moved this week, and 32,191 including streams. He drops to 13.
4) Ciara—Jackie: Ciara is the second debut on this week's charts, with a less triumphant posting at 17. Despite scoring a decent hit with "I Bet," she only managed to move 19,866 copies (25,508 with streams).
5) Nicki Minaj—The Pinkprint: Nicki falls from 18 to 23, but with the "Night Is Still Young" video poised for a summer takeover, we're guessing the album will see a spike in the coming months. It lands here mostly due to streams, moving 16,873 copies but only 3,936 excluding them.
6) Empire—Season 1 OST: The Empire OST is finally losing some momentum, falling from 21 to 25. It sees 12,135 in sales, 15, 477 with streams this week. Total sales are at 357,936.
7) Kendrick Lamar—To Pimp A Butterfly: K-Dot's album seems to have checked out of the race to platinum, with 8,851 copies sold this week (14,838 with streams). It's now at 566,180 total. He takes a huge dip from 19 to 28.
8) Big Sean—Dark Sky Paradise: Sean also takes a big fall from 23 to 32. He moves 4,192 copies (14,269 with streams). DSP has sold a total of 268,520 copies.
