Despite multiple setbacks, Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign‘s long-awaited duet album ‘Vultures 1‘ finally migrated to digital music services on February 10.
Coming as the first of a three-volume affair, the 16-track project boasts guest appearances from Travis Scott, Chris Brown, Lil Durk, Lil Baby, Future, Playboi Carti, Freddie Gibbs, and more as well as a who’s who of production contributors like Timbaland, 88-Keys, No I.D., and, of course, West himself (to name a few).
The postponement of the LP’s release from January 12 to January 19 and eventually to the week of February 9 put it smack dab beside Usher‘s ‘Coming Home‘ – creating the year’s most exciting musical showdown yet.
And while the latter opus was aided by a Hot 100 top 40 hit (‘Good Good’), an aggressive promotional run, and increased visibility for its performer via the most-watched Super Bowl in history, the joint superpower of Kanye and Ty still seem poised to overpower the R&B singer on the Billboard 200.
Kanye West & Ty Dolla $ign’s ‘Vultures 1’
Predicted First-Week Sales (SPS): 140,000 units
Predicted First-Week Sales (Pure): 15,000
Predicted Billboard 200 Debut: #1
According to industry analysts at HDD, West and $ign will see their names signed atop the refreshed Billboard 200 on Sunday (February 18) thanks to their debut duet album ‘Vultures 1.’
Projected to move 140,000 total units by the end of its opening sales tracking week, the prediction – if true – will mark the highest sum Ty has ever enjoyed over his career.
For West, on the other hand, the figures above mark a 55% drop from the 309,000 that accompanied his last solo album – 2021’s ‘Donda‘ – to the top of Billboard’s all-genre chart.
Selling nearly double that of Usher’s ‘Coming Home,’ the ‘U Got It Bad‘ crooner is forecasted to trail behind at #3.
By no means a loss, the numbers that will likely accompany the R&B superstar to the refreshed Billboard 200 are his biggest in over a decade.