In what came as no surprise, Beyonce‘s highly anticipated eighth studio album – the March 29-released ‘Cowboy Carter’ – was quickly forecasted to ride to the top of the Billboard 200 the week after its inaugural sales tracking completed.
Originally predicted to sell in the range of 350,000 copies its first week, the Country-flavored effort – which boasted features from the likes of Miley Cyrus, Post Malone, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, and more – was already on its way to blockbuster status before news of history-making streams at Spotify and Amazon Music were reported.
With those figures in tow, industry analysts took to press on Wednesday (April 2) to offer a revised prediction for the ‘Cowboy’ opening.
Details inside.
Beyonce’s ‘Act II: Cowboy Carter’
Predicted First-Week Sales (SPS): 405,000 units
Billboard 200 Debut: #1
According to HDD, ‘Cowboy’ is set to gallop to #1 on next week’s Billboard 200 on the back of total sales north of 400,000 with nearly half of that figure (42%) being comprised of pure sales.
If the pure sales prediction rings true, the 27-track project will have outsold the combined sales performance of the other 199 entries by itself.
If the overall prediction rings true, ‘Cowboy’ will make Bey the first artist in history to see her first eight studio albums top the all-genre chart.
Keep it locked to That Grape Juice for more on this story when the official Billboard announcement arrives on Sunday (April 7).