This past Friday, April 28 saw a bunch of new releases from the Hip-Hop and R&B world but not everyone will have a great story to tell at the end of the week.
Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. is spending the second week at number 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with third week looking very strong as well. Whereas among the new releases this week, Gorillaz’ comeback album Humanz is set to move a solid 95-100k units in the first week with approximately 85-90k of that coming in pure sales, according to HDD. That should be enough for a top 3 spot on the chart next week. Humanz is the group’s first album since 2011’s The Fall.
Mary J. Blige’s latest offering Strength of a Woman is currently projected to bow with 67-72k (63-68k sales) while Wale’s fifth album SHiNE is looking at a disappointing 18-22k. This will be his lowest first week debut ever. The MMG rapper’s last album The Album About Nothing moved 100k in the first week and debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200. SHiNE was originally set to release on May 5th but Wale moved up the date a week to April 28th which could also be a factor in the low numbers.
UPDATE (May 3): Wale’s projected numbers have further decreased to 17-20k (11-13k pure sales).