Tyler, The Creator has quietly staked his claim as one of the game's most commercially viable rappers. The trend-setting musical pioneer recent dropped off his ambitious Igor project, which prompted a slightly divided response from fans; while some compared it to acclaimed projects like Kanye West's Yeezus, others felt there was much-unfulfilled potential to be found. Regardless, Tyler has made it clear that he stands by his work, and clearly, many have taken to standing with him. Today marks the arrival of the first-week numbers, which finds Tyler sitting pretty atop the Billboard charts with a staggering 172,377 units sold.
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Of that total, the number of traditional album sales was surprisingly high, perhaps revealing a bit about Tyler's core demographic. 77,716 made up physical copies, while the remaining 93,684 came from streaming. DJ Khaled's Father Of Asahd premiered at number two, pushing 131,717 copies of his star-studded album. The big week is a testament to Tyler's current place in the game, Grammy-nominated and beloved; not too shabby for a man once banned from the United Kingdom.
Congrats to Tyler for a great first week. Now that the dust has settled, where do you stand on Igor?
[via]