It would seem that history is repeating itself once again.
Indeed, after November 2010 saw Kanye West‘s ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ outsell Nicki Minaj‘s ‘Pink Friday’ in its first week, only to be outsold by that very album (and watch it hit #1 weeks later), West is now gearing up to watch the same thing happen again….only this time, with Roc Nation‘s J.Cole.
Despite outselling Cole’s new album ‘Sinner’ when his LP ‘Yeezus’ dropped in the same week, this week has seen the latter suffer a cruel 80% decline in sales, kicking it to #3 thanks to 65,271 units sold in its second week of release.
Meanwhile, despite suffering a decline of 72%, Cole brought in 83,652 copies in the same week, placing him one spot beneath Wale‘s ‘The Gifted (151,871)’, which came in at #1.
Here’s where it gets interesting.
According to predictions generated in the last few hours, next week will see Cole shift around 60,000 units- forcing him to the #1 spot his second #1 album in the country.
Pretty epic, considering this feat will comes after sales of the album hit 381,000 units, placing him 119,000 units away from selling half a million units within its first month of release! This, more than likely to happen, considering 60,000 of that 119,000 will be taken care of once next week’s charts roll in, making his journey to Gold even shorter and sweeter.
As if that wasn’t enough, July 2nd saw the release of Elijah Blake‘s brand new single ‘Vendetta‘, produced by the ‘Let Nas Down’ lyricist.
Quite interestingly, less than 24 hours after the cut was released on Ljung’s ‘Soundcloud‘, it generated a 50,000 plays and an estimated 2 million streams via the video sharing site YouTube.
Surprising? Not really- considering a feat just as impressive was scored upon the launch of ‘Bijoux 22′, Blake’s 2012 EP- nabbing the recorded for the fastest downloaded EP in Def Jam history, with 20,000 downloads made its first and second day of release.
While these numbers are great for Hip Hop, one wonders when articles like these will feature the names of R&B acts and their releases.
So, as to gauge your thoughts on the matter, we ask….
What do you think is behind ‘Sinner’s success, and….
What could R&B acts do to replicate it?
Please let us know!
Good for them.
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Why nothing on J. Cole’s decline though? It’s a good album but this is pretty biased.
Also no one cares about Elijah Blake, only saw him one time on 106 & Park as the New Joint while surfing channels.
I’m sorry. At first I would have been with you about Elijah Blake but he’s starting to blow up in my school so I see why Grape keep writing about him.
I used to hate seeing him here all the time but he’s good.
Ok then, do he have any other songs than XOX? I will check them out tbh.
The guys in my class were playing a slow one yesterday but I didn’t ask them what it was called. I know he has one called Vicky that I like and another one called Everything which isn’t bad either.
kANYE All i can say is hang in there because you know your boss man Jayz is dropping and that is all that matter he ,his wife and his Roc Nation Artist not You and Others So hang in there.
Kayne i wonder how it is that You and Jayz can drop as many albums as you want to when you want to and there is nothing ever stated otherwise about it yet much is said about Rihanna when she drop a album a year AND is always accused of trying to stay revelant can the same thing be said about You and JAYZ .
Umm in what world do Kanye & Jay drop albums every year? WTT was 2 yrs ago..
Good job J. Now to answer the question.
The only way I see Rnb doing well like Hip Hop is if people start using payola more often. I’m sorry, but that’s the only way. Everybody listens to the radio in the car but how do you expect anyone to know you have a song out if radio isn’t putting you on.
Look how well Beautiful did for Mimi.
Miguel had one of the biggest R&B songs last year, and his album still underperformed.
I loved Frank before he came out of the closet, but you’d be a fool to think that his sexuality didn’t help his sales. Maybe R&B needs more controversy?
That’s not a bad point sis, but I with @17 because payola is the only sure fire way to get people to hear your music.
Word of mouth + hot album + people loving an underdog = Born Sinner.
R&B acts need better music and more promo.
Hey hunty, I liked our kii kii session the other day.
IF Elijah is getting those kinds of numbers he better slay everyone with his album. BTW, i’m so happy for J cole.
Yeezus is Overrated!!
I love Jcoles album!!!
I want Kelly to hit GOLD so bad. Her album is really good 🙂
Jay-Z won this.
He didn’t win s***.
Winning is when PEOPLE buy your albums, not companies.
500 albums bought by actual people>>>>10 million albums bought by a company who makes money from you.
Still will outsell him..
As a Jay Z fan since RD, I was highly disappointed with MCHG. The beats are ill, but the lyricism is lacking. It reminds me of Kingdom Come, which was also one of his weaker efforts.
Yeah, I can’t get with that s***. Thats so unfair. If “music” matters so much than why did he have Samsung by 1M copies? Why not just 50thou ? Thats proof right there that all ppl stan for is numbers
No lies FAF. Jay is power hungry, and he wants the accolades that come along with “selling” 1milli in the first week. That’s why he’s running around yelling “CHANGING THE RULES” and “ALREADY PLATINUM.” I’ve been a Jay fan forever, but I call a spade a spade.
God! Who the hell cares!-Peter Griffin voice!
Kanye’s decline is expected no single etc…
What about j.cole’s decline?
This Elijah character is nowhere near anticipated and that new single is currently flopping.
That forced down our throat tactic didn’t work with Rita and it won’t work for him..
God!! we have no promising new artist smh
‘That forced down our throat tactic didn’t work with Rita’
*Flicks through Harper’s Bazaar and GQ.
But Rita’s 3 number ones though.
If you used your sense, you would see a link between Rita, Elijah and That grape juice. Get it now? Ok.
That forced sown your throat tactic actually did work. J.Cole was forced down everyone’s throat when he first got signed. Rita is doing well in the U.K: Three #1 singles, a #1 album, sold out tour, and headlining major festivals. Elijah will most likely be successful too. And honestly, I dont mind. They are all talented.
She means in the USA where RITA FLOPPED – BAD. Who cares if a UK singer is big in the UK.
WW AND USA RITA WHORA IS NON motherfucking factor and Rih is laughing at her flop ass, as she slays the UK, with an album bigger than whora.
Not once did he/she say the U.S.A. Or worldwide. Stop reaching. This has nothing to do with Rihanna
He said ” it worked ” No it did not, cos in order to be better than rihanna ( as many , including rita, beyonce etc) U need to crack the US and WW to even dare be able to utter rih’s name.
This b**** failed. Now, she don’t she dont even dare tty and talk about rihanna anymore. HA HA HA Rih is an example on how to silence your f****** enemies.
You’re back peddling as I knew you would. You all said this girl would end rih’s career last year. But I told u, last year, rih will shut down Bey and rita in one fell swoop. I was right.
There is no rita or bey on any GLOBAL CHARTS. I told u rih would this. I told y’all. You cannot do or say s***. Maybe you can go hide out with beyonce.
Lets not pretend as if J Cole could’ve ever beaten Ye in his prime. Remember when he kicked 50 Cents ass in first week sales? Kanye has been in the game for ten years. He’s a trendsetter, a legend. And for him to still be pulling 300k + ten years later is amazing! J Cole may have released an album in the same week as Ye, but there’s no competition. Cole needs to be put up against the likes of Wale, ASAP Rocky, BOB and other new rappers. Coles album is solid though, so congrats to him. Just stop bringing Kanye down. He has paid his dues…6 times to be exact! 🙂
No lies were detected.
but Ye only sold 39K more than Cole…how isn’t that competition??
The only way R&B will survive if its artists stop releasing the same old s*** and not promoting themselves. As soon as the artist sees the light , they usually hit gold (ie. Blurred Lines, Mirrors, Beautiful, and etc.)
All the songs you mentioned used payola. There’s no way Blurred Lines would have done as well as it did if it wasn’t on radio every minute of the day.
^ Thank u & blurred lines is HARDLY R&B if anything, its pop-r&b fusion. And y’all need to pay close attention to these hashtags # on these songs videos theres irony in the fact that blurred lines & beautiful are so successful after their songs without (triumphant, almost home, s** therapy, shakin it for daddy, etc) Didn’t do as well.
@FAF…I have to disagree, just b/c “Blurred Lines” has become very popular doesn’t make it a Pop song…there’s nothing Pop about it, it’s an uptempo Soul/R&B song that heavily samples an older Soul/R&B classic (Marvin Gaye’s “Got To Give It Up”)…so your statement “HARDLY R&B” is wayyyy off…
Kanye wins because he earn these sales with nothing but word of mouth and a SNL performance. No radio singles, no music videos, no major appearances, nothing. J.Cole has had Power Trip on radio for a while, is announcing tours, and making appearances to promote his project. Plus he’s in his prime while Kanye has been doing it for years.
As for Elijah, Roc Nation used this tactic with J.Cole and it worked. They used it for Rita and it worked. Chances are it will work for Elijah. They all are talented in their fields but, IMO , they lack the right music. But face it: Roc Nation knows how to produce cash cows.
Rita popped off the UK cos they were comparing her to rihanna. That is the reason why she got press. You had that h** talking about rih in every interview and singing her songs on youtube. FF to 2013 and the UK public are over the ” UK rihanna ” and Rita’s sales have declined. Shina ya light, radioactive and that duet with k koke under performed.
It did not help Rita when The real rihanna came back with UNA ERA AND SHUT HER S*** DOWN. Diamonds outsold all the rita number1’s and UNA is double platinum and ORA debut LP had scrape to just platinum. So, Rita lost in my humble opinion. In fact Stay was one of the biggest selling songs of 2012 and 2013, while rita rots. No one even knows when she will ever drop a new single.
I read her GQ interview. It was funny as hell; with her tattoos in the exact same place as rihanna – even the exact same one as rih. But what even more funny was that her was partly about Leo dicaprio. All she done was talk about partying with leo dicaprio and jonah hill. US weekly said she slept with jonah hill and it got back to rob, and that is why he call her h** ass out.
I told you last year, this flop is going nowhwhere in the industry. She should just enjoy her parties, suck d*** and keep it moving cos she is not EVER F****** WITH RIH.
Whats wrong with Rita singing Rihanna song? Rihanna sang beyonce songs at destiny’s child tribute w/ teairra and amerie… everyone has to start somewhere
You know are flop when part of your GQ interview is about leonardo dicaprio. What was even more tragic, leonardo dicaprio , from what was said in the UK, was not even checking for her h** ass. It came across that she tried to use him for fame, but he sent on her way. Poor dat!
Maybe that why she f***** his buddy Jonah hill. Leonardo only f*** A list or drop dead gorgeous models, not fat , short stubby wannbe rih’s He could get the real thing, not some fat, short stubby industry p**** clone.
When you are trying to promote yourself hot thing, who is more superior to rih, you do not want to start and interview by singing her hits.
If rih came on the scene acting like she is better than beyonce, but then starts singing beyonce most hit ( WFL) That would make rih look stupid. Rih came out in 2005 and I do not recall doing interview singing a current beyonce hit: IE Naughty girl. Rih was about trying to sell herself as west indian artist. It worked.
No you f****** idiot. I do not mean singing a destiny child song at awards paying tribute to DC.
I mean giving interviews and singing rih songs, but then shading her acting like you will outsell her. That is what rita was doing……til she could not pop off anyway outside the uk. Now? She dont f****** dare talk about rih or sing ANY song anymore cos she knows she done!
As for an R&B resurrection, ill say it….R&B is boring!!! What happened to the fun hooks and catchy melodies? Where’s the feel good R&B?
Kanye didn’t even promote his album except for that one snl performance.
That’s neo-r&b, not the REAL stuff “Body Party” >>> Trey songz last album & all that oochie c****** mess he sings about nowadays. R&B is a feeling. If people stop trying to sing about b****** & the club & call it R&B bc the artists are BLACK, then it will be successful. Music used to have genres. What happened to heavy metal? What happened to alternative on the charts? This is why people can’t be successful, there is no lane. theres either indie (flop) or EXTREME pop, dubstep, european influences
LOL LOL so if Jcole slayed with no promo. What does that say about Rita whora promo efforts in the USA blowing up like industry c** in her face?
payola does not work is the artist is wack and the GP are not feeling them. Case in point, Rita Whora: In Feb 2012, jay z took Rita whora to Z100 for a chat and to premiere her debut song in the USA, then for 3 months she went on US pop and urban radio tour.
What happened to her career in the USA? LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL bet she regrets tweeting ” hating ass b**** ” about rihanna. I know that shade about ” never do a song with you ” was about that industry clone who is on her last legs in the music game. Rita is running out o0f second chances. HA HA /
J. Cole mixtapes made him hot not Roc Nation or Jay Z. J. Cole doesn’t release music every week like most artist, he release music when he gets close to album time, So don’t say Roc Nation force J.Cole on people. Maybe J. Cole numbers are good because people can relate to his music.
Is this better or worse than that 80-85% sales dip from #1 Madonna had with MDNA over a year ago. I can’t remember exactly?!