‘Heartless’ hitmaker Kanye West has seen his latest opus, ‘The Life of Pablo,’ get a new heartbeat last week after gaining its long-awaited wide release.
The Grammy winning rapper may have initially protested against the idea, but after some strong encouragement from talent manager extraordinaire, Scooter Braun, West opened up to a more commercial roll out of his latest project – to much fanfare.
After weeks of availability being limited to Tidal stream and his official web site, granted access to Spotify, Pandora, and other streaming services has seen ‘Pablo’ pop right to the top of the Billboard 200 as the first album in history to reign based on streaming ‘sales’ alone (as reported here).
After weeks of illegal streaming that have reportedly passed the 500,000 mark, see its final official first week numbers below:
First Week Sales: 94,000
Pure album sales: 28,000
Chart Position: #1
The Life of Pablo is the first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 where the majority (70 percent, in fact) of its units were generated by streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Its 66,000 SEA units equates to just over 99 million U.S. streams for the album’s tracks in the week ending April 7. (Each SEA unit is equal to 1,500 streams from an album.)
None of Pablo’s tracks were available for individual purchase, so the album debuts on the strength of only streams and traditional album sales.
The previous high-water mark for streaming percentage at No. 1 was notched just three weeks ago, on the April 2-dated chart, when Rihanna’s Anti returned to No. 1, with 31.3 percent of its total units (54,000) derived from streams. That week, Anti sold 17,000 in traditional album sales…
![Chart Check [Billboard 200]: Despite Being the Week's Top-Selling New Female Album, Kylie Minogue's 'Tension II' Is Her Lowest-Charting Effort Since 2008](https://thatgrapejuice.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Kylie-Minogue-Tension-II-2-tgj-1-464x260.jpg "Chart Check [Billboard 200]: Despite Being the Week's Top-Selling New Female Album, Kylie Minogue's 'Tension II' Is Her Lowest-Charting Effort Since 2008.")
I hate the idea that streams are now bloody pushing albums to number 1 spots. WTF!
the same way they count to to plaques!
The whole streaming era has phucked things up completely.
That’s why these hos with their number 1s, they don’t mean ish cos it’s literally all streams.
Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson, Beatles, those kind of no.1’s I respect.
This sucks…
I still don’t know her.
The album would have performed a whole lot better if it weren’t for the TIDAL mess. At the least, Kanye proved his loyalty to Jay-Z and his business.
I hope beyonce doesn’t release her album like kanye and rih did its to messy man
Congrats Kanye…and what’s that noise I heard about Iggy tanking? You better think again! lol #TEAM #DefJam
http://giphy.com/gifs/iggyazalea-iggy-azalea-team-3o7WTLEdn4AZd3eIgg
🙂
Kanye should be doing 500-600k right now, but him being a good friend to Jay Z caused him to flop. Beyoncé BETTER NOT do the same. And I heard Drake’s upcoming album will be an Apple exclusive, but he has the advantage cause I tunes is part of Apple Music.
Beyonce better not do the same? Dumbyonce doesn’t know any better! Lol!
Congratz Kanye! Damn not bad for an album thats been out for over a month already.
The tidal curse…..
Which beg the question who cursed ur fave for HIM to be such a bonafide flop?
OMG will y’all leave me alone? Kii so pressed and obsessed!
A bona fide flop whose worth more than you
Exactly
I have my popcorn ready for B6’s messy rollout!
Solo a WHOLE album can debut number 1 on the hot 100 based mostly on streams but a song with a viral video and preformed to 100 million.people can’t even chart? ????????????
Stfu
Do you need it stamped out in Morris-code that something that is unavailable for commerce (i.e., cannot be directly purchased) can chart?
*can’t chart
Yeah, yeah, yeah…whatever Pablo. I’m more concerned about what all this means for Beyonce. I do *not* want her to release her next album in any way that might hinder sales. If that means going rogue and not being part of this Tidal “wave” that they’re trying to create, then so be it.
Its fuvking sad that you can now nab a #1 album by selling 20k albums. Wtf
Iggy’s The New Classic has been certified platinum. Bey better not release exclusively through tidal.
This is stupid. Streaming is stupid. It’s the lazy man’s choice. If other artists were smart, they would rail against this buffoonery. Tell people that the only option is the CD and they won’t have much choice.
Yikes! Tidal is a flop. I’m actually embarrassed for Joe Camel and his blow up doll
@TGJ y’all need to block @Cinatard already! Poor thing is having meltdowns with her 1TROLLION troll accounts on here 24/7 on here lmao!
You fleahives are hilarious with your delusions! You can’t handle the truth so you foolishly accuse folks of having multiple accounts! Lol! You guys are pitiful!
Sis that’s their go-to “drag”. 9/10 they’re trolling themselves.
#JACKIE, the fleahives are a mess. When they’re losing an argument they accuse you of having multiple accounts or threaten you with violence. That’s how stupid they are
Like I said previously I will NEVER be convinced that streaming is the same as BUYING an actual album/CD, NEVER. Even if you stream it a billion times its just NOT the same.
Now I really, truly wonder what Beyonce will do if and when she releases her next album. As large as her fan base is, I don’t think any of them are going to download TIDAL just because of one Beyonce album. There’s a very big difference between paying a monthly subscription fee and buying a CD once and getting out of the store, very big difference.
This is not to discredit a black-owned company but it’s a fact. TIDAL is impractical and makes very little business sense, especially since artists who don’t write/produce their own music already make so little from album sales. P.S “I don’t trust these record labels I’m touring…”
The charts are a joke now
DEATH @Cinatard claiming the Hives lie! Lmfao not whem TGJ stays exposing and clocking these trolls for us!
____
How easy @Cinatard forgets, was it not just 2wks ago me and @Annalise clocked your tea when you failed to create a Troll account and had the same avi. Lmfao!
But I’m not Molly, Jackie or Adele’s flip phone. Face it, you guys can’t handle that your fave is flopping so you try to deflect and accuse others of having multiple accounts. Tidal is a flop, Formation is a flop. Just accept that
The whole ” it can’t chart because it’s not available for purchase” is BS because 70% of kanye pints came from streams. Not to mention glopmation had streams and top 10 urban airplay. Why can’t it chart 🙁
@WhatNow/ElusiveLamb worry about AntiSuccess tour being unsold and not one date grossing more than a MILLION KIII!
___
But real question. Are you stupid? How exactly is Formation going to chart when its not available for streaming on any platform or available for purchase on any platform. You act as if TLOP charted off of Tidal’s streams. TLOP charted off of Spotifys streams and album sales. Ain’t nobody trusting Tidal’s numbers. Not even HDD. But i still fuxk and pay for my tidal. I just get how y’all expect 3m subs to compete with Apple Music’s 11m subs and Spotifys 29 million subs.
*don’t
Exactly. Formation was also released to radio stations and still didn’t do good. There’s a reason why Joe Camel isn’t releasing Formation’s streaming numbers
Poor Dumbyonce. Stuck between a rock and a hard spot. Dumbyonce, you shouldn’t have married a camel. You should’ve married a smart human. Now this camel is going to fawk up your career
Why is it these PEASANTS keep saying Formation was sent to radio? There are no receipts of it ever being released to Radio beside the one receipt of that UK radio station. Even if it was released to radio what songs in this day and age are solely charting off of AirPlay???? Please due provide a receipt of Formation being released to radio and a receipt of Songs currently charting off of AirPlay this time around. If not shut it the fuxk down!
IKR. I challenge these crack babies to list the stations “Formation” was *officially* serviced to (not just those that decided to illegally play it) before running off at the keyboard to a computer that they didn’t buy. The fact that “Formation” topped Billboard’s Real Time Trending charts (of 140 songs) means that if it had been commercially available, it would have zoomed up the Hot 100 immediately. Beyonce wasn’t trying for a chart hit. This was to make a point…and to promote the tour that crashed Ticket Master’s website when announced. It did what it was supposed to.
Then explain why Formation is charting on the Billboard R&B airplay chart if it wasn’t serviced to radio. (P.S., only songs that were serviced to radio are eligible to chart on the airplay charts.)
Formation flopped. Enough with the excuses already.
Why worry about sales so much? .. just enjoy the music
What a bunch of TRY HARD BUM B*TCHES! The Life of Pablo was released on Tidal two whole months ago and has only now just charted on the Billboard 200 after its exclusivity deal finished, which proves just how ineffectual Tidal is when it comes to chart numbers. So when they ask about Formation I have to f*cking laugh! (Especially as we all know that the radio stations boycotted it because of it’s controversial undertones). Even the ‘Singles artist’ couldn’t get into the Top 50 with Tidal alone (And this was during March Madness which is one of the biggest sporting events of the year + her song was played during national ad campaigns.
Ya’ll are too caught up in these meaningless sale numbers. Don’t you see what Tidal and Jay is doing with sponsorship from Samsung. He is putting sponsorship money directly in his artist hands cutting deals with fortune 500 companies and using their albums as the promotional tool.
People don’t consume music like they did back in the day. Ya’ll can cry all day, but these artist are adjusting with the time. Why shouldn’t stream count when a fan can bootleg the album off t****** sites and youtube in 1 minute.
Would ya’ll rather sell 1 million albums make 30 cent a cd or would you rather get 10 million from Apple, Tidal,Samsung,etc for exclusivity and sacrifice meaningless sales where you will get less money.
Ya’ll don’t have any foresight imo.
These comments make you wonder what story beyonce’s fans would be telling if her streaming numbers were as big as Kanye’s and Rihanna’s lol.
What does Beyonce have to do with any of this? Selling 20K-40K and debuting at #1 is the issue here. It’s funny,one minute streaming was beneath certain artist now all of the sudden their fan base is all for it because it’s kept their music afloat, now it’s all the rage. Artist who haven’t even selling 300K domestically are getting platinum certifications. This is beyond petty stanfare,it’s pointing to all the signs that the music industry may be on life support and there’s no Michael Jackson to save it this time. This streaming crap is pure foolishness,if you didn’t sell an actual 1 Million to consumers you’re not platinum in my book,I have more respect for artist who do 600K+ and pull in a platinum plaques with shipments.
Huh????? Lmao. I hate stream sales so much. I really do.
Well deserved #1! I wish the album could have seen bigger sales it’s first week, but at least this handicap didn’t hurt Ye’s winning streak!
Congrats to kanye west