J. Cole's First Week Sales For "The Off-Season" Are In

BYAron A.Updated on September 26, 202256.3K Views

J. Cole reaches a new career milestone with the success of "The Off-Season."

J. Cole is out in Rwanda where he's fulfilling his hoop dreams as part of the Basketball Africa League. It was unexpected yet fitting for the theme surrounding his latest opus. Cole is certainly the furthest thing from being the BAL's LeBron James, but it seems like he's simply happy with challenging himself.

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Ahead of his debut in the BAL, the rapper unveiled his latest body of work, The Off-Season. The album already had major sales projections in its first week but now, the numbers are in and Cole has, once again, broken records. Per HDD, The Off-Season marks Cole's sixth consecutive chart-topper with 288K units moved in its first week. While impressive, he fell a few thousand units short of surpassing Taylor Swift's Fearless for the biggest first-week debut of the year. The 300M streams the project racked up in its first week marks the largest streaming debut of any album this year.

Cole gave fans a special message yesterday following the news of his #1 debut. The rapper offered his gratitude for the support while seemingly acknowledging the criticism surrounding his pro-ball debut.

"Sending a thank you from Rwanda! #1 album, I appreciate the love, i heard the noise from out here. the off-season means keep pushing yourself, I will do the same," Cole said.

What's your favorite song off of J. Cole's new album? Sound off in the comments.

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About The Author

Aron A.

Aron A. is a features editor for HotNewHipHop. Beginning his tenure at HotNewHipHop in July 2017, he has comprehensively documented the biggest stories in the culture over the past few years. Throughout his time, Aron’s helped introduce a number of buzzing up-and-coming artists to our audience, identifying regional trends and highlighting hip-hop from across the globe. As a Canadian-based music journalist, he has also made a concerted effort to put spotlights on artists hailing from North of the border as part of Rise & Grind, the weekly interview series that he created and launched in 2021. Aron also broke a number of stories through his extensive interviews with beloved figures in the culture. These include industry vets (Quality Control co-founder Kevin "Coach K" Lee, Wayno Clark), definitive producers (DJ Paul, Hit-Boy, Zaytoven), cultural disruptors (Soulja Boy), lyrical heavyweights (Pusha T, Styles P, Danny Brown), cultural pioneers (Dapper Dan, Big Daddy Kane), and the next generation of stars (Lil Durk, Latto, Fivio Foreign, Denzel Curry). Aron also penned cover stories with the likes of Rick Ross, Central Cee, Moneybagg Yo, Vince Staples, and Bobby Shmurda.

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