Kanye West 'Jesus is King' First Week Sales

UPDATE: The final numbers are in. Ye managed to push 276,224 units of the album including streams, with a whopping 109,668 copies coming from pure sales. This puts him in the top spot comfortably.

Kendrick Lamar Shakes Up The Super Bowl With Bold Drake Diss And Surprise Guests

Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl 59 halftime performance was nothing short of legendary, leaving fans buzzing with surprise cameos and bold moments that took his long-running feud with Drake to new heights. Kicking off with an unreleased song snippet and followed by “Squabble Up” from his latest album GNX, Kendrick immediately set the tone for a game-changing performance. Fans eagerly waited to see if Kendrick would play his diss track Not Like Us, especially with Drake's ongoing lawsuit against him and his label for defamation and harassment. Lamar's performance included an unexpected appearance by SZA and a quirky cameo from Serena Williams, along with Samuel L. Jackson’s comedic interruptions, all building the suspense around the Drake drama. In the middle of his performance, Kendrick turned up the heat, looking straight into the camera and directly addressing Drake with his famous lyrics, “I heard you like them young," as fans held their breath. Despite the tension, Kendrick censored himself when it came time to call Drake a "certified lover boy" and avoided saying “pedophile,” which had been widely speculated. Social media lit up with mixed reactions, with some fans mocking the performance as a "mid mashup" and others noting the intense hostility toward Drake. With the hashtag #KendrickBowl trending, it’s clear that Kendrick’s performance was a cultural moment that pushed boundaries—but has he gone too far, or is this just another chapter in hip-hop history? Only time will tell, and Drake has yet to respond.

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Kanye West may be “canceled” as they say but he’s surely not canceled when it comes to popularity within the music space.

His anticipated new Gospel album Jesus is King is set to move 225-275k copies in the first week at retail with 60-85k out of that coming from pure sales. Much of that is expected to come from direct sales through his official website. This should easily give him a number 1 spot on the Billboard 200 next week.

For comparison, Kanye’s last album ye moved 208k copies in the first week with 7 songs so with 11 on Jesus is King, the rapper-producer is set to surpass that easily.

These are interesting figures for an artist who has received much criticism because of his controversial slavery comments and support for Donald Trump. Earlier today, Kanye issued a new mix of his album on streaming services with some changes to few songs.