Usher sprung a surprise on the masses last week with the release of brand new album ‘A.’
A joint effort with producer Zaytoven, the project – his first since 2016’s ‘Hard II Love’ – was billed as a homage of sorts to his hometown of Atlanta.
Uniquely, little additional context was provided for the album nor was there any above the line promotion.
How did this factor into first week performance? Find out below…
Per Hits Daily Double, ‘A’ will open at #29 on the US album tally with the following figures…
14,816
[Sales Plus Streaming]
*******
4,302
[Pure Sales]
************
Hardly blockbuster numbers, but we’re sensing this is a litmus test project. A calm before the more traditional storm.
After all, Ush hit the studio with the likes of Jermaine Dupri, Bryan Michael Cox, and Rico Love. And none of that material was present on ‘A.’
So surely something else is coming. Surely…?
He had an album out? Wow, news to me…
Unfortunately for him, he cannot make an album with only trap music and sell well. It should have been a mixture of classic usher style r&b and trap.
It wasn’t an album, it was a collaboration project that was recorded in just 5 days.
Okay Usher lol. Flop.
???♀️ why would he release an album without prior promotion! Had no clue he had a whole album out! I did know he had a single out bcuz I seen a video of Kelly Rowland listening to it bopping to it in her car… anyways… I just hate the state r&b music sales are in!
It wasn’t an usher album it was an Usher/Zaytoven collaborative mini project.
I don’t care for sales these days…is the album good though?
Listen to it
Nope. I stopped because I can’t with the zaytoven babyvoice intro. Worse than Khaled
It’s actually a good EP! He did a great job creating songs that meshes well today’s melodic radio sound yet staying true to his aesthetic
He’s an artist that can put music out & his base I’ll eat it up!! I’m not a die hard usher fan but he makes good music!!
He makes GREAT music with Jermaine Dupri, Pharrell, Jimmy & Terry, Manuel Seal, Bryan C**, Babyface…..with the assistance and executive decisions of Antonio Marquis “LA” Reid….and that’s what’s SUP lol ? ?
Damn he pulled Keyshia Cole type of numbers!
Keyshia hasn’t even debuted that low..no shade Usher ijs!
Usher has become an ordinary copycat, and he sounds dumb singing trap music.
It’s over for Usher.
I actually really like this project it’s a good project man ..he be coming back in 2019 I’m sure
It was simply a mixtape type of album to tide fans over over to the real album drops. The music industry needs a makeover tho, cuz streaming truly has f***** up the charts. Ppl don’t buy albums anymore unless you’re white & the only albums that get heavy streams are rappers
His hometown is not Atlanta, he was born and raised in Tennessee
I did not hear or see any promotions about this album.
Didn’t know he had an album out
There was virtually no marketing beyond his Instagram page. Something bigger is on the horizon. Plus, he has already outsold all the millennials in the game. Usher is good.
This ep been on repeat since it dropped, i love it ???
This is not an album so chill. Its always been his strategy he tests his music direction before releasing an album. Just like ALL ABOUT U before 8701 remember? He then scraps the old project with new one ?. But one thing is sure his next album will be good .
This is hardly better than TLC’s Kickstarter album from 2017. ?
We need to stop making excuses. If he’s on every song, this IS an album. That’s like saying The The Preachers Wife soundtrack or The Bodyguard wasn’t considered Whitney’s album, even though other artists were on it. He is the primary and this flopped hard. No promo- and even when it dropped out of no where, it flopped. We can’t just blame it on streaming either because how come no one streamed it? Where are the fans who are supposed to be supporting him? They were busy streaming something else. I love Usher, but fans claiming this isn’t his album will not be streaming his official when he drops either. #FACTS
Other thing is usher fans stop saying we need confessions usher back.