Much like this week with Chris Brown and Monica, two of Urban music’s most-beloved characters – August Alsina and R. Kelly – faced off in the name of R&B.
Alsina, who dropped his highly anticipated sophomore album ‘This Thing Called Life,’ saw his album greeted to a bevy of critical acclaim (much like its predecessor ‘Testimony’). While the latter-mentioned debuted at #2 to the tune of an impressive 67,000 sold, early reports indicated the former would not be able to claim similar heights as predictions placed it somewhere between 30-35,000 sold its first week. Not too far away, Kelly, with his 13th opus, ‘Buffet,’ was served predictions in the 28-33,000 range. This, after an impassioned plea by the R&B royal for fans to support the genre.
The good news is they must have listened as both Alsina and Kelly exceeded their sales prediction by a notable margin. On the other hand, the bad news appears they may have been so busy listening to Adele‘s ’25,’ they forgot to tell their friends as both R&B acts missed the top 10 of the Billboard 200 all together (a career first for Kelly).
Find out what their final numbers are for their respective first weeks of availability:
August Alsina – ‘This Thing Called Life’ – 41,057 (36,056 pure sales) – #14
R. Kelly – ‘Buffet’ – 39,252 (36,353 pure sales) – #16
As the figures above indicate, Kelly – despite ‘Buffet’ lending him a career low and first time ever debuting outside of the Billboard 200’s top 10 – actually outsold his younger counterpart in pure sales. However, as expected, Alsina’s appeal to the younger, more-apt to stream generation gave him a leg up in the final numbers as his streaming figures were almost double that of Kelly’s.
Get the full Billboard 200 chart check tomorrow when the chart refreshes.
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UGH. I could just cry for the state of R&B right now, I seriously could.
What on earth is happening to our genre/s?
This is why I REFUSE to attack Bey, Rih and Nicki because, sadly, the are the ONLY Black acts (male or female) of whom the media and mainstream music arena seem to give a single f*ck about enough to allow them to recieve the national/global coverage in order for them to truly sell and do above-decent numbers.
Put a white face on it and it’ll do better than any Black Man or Woman who has worked twice as hard to create the same exact art and now they’re calling that basic, overexposed, White B*tch the new “Queen of Soul”. FOH!
They are not capable of selling because the make genenric RnB
Do you feel the same way about the NFL and NBA where White players are completely ignored and every position is given to African Americans?
shut yo stupid a.s.s up!!! that has nothing to do with the comment and it doesnt compare to the numerous privileges that white(or lighter skinned) people have in this world that give them opportunity over people of color!!! and you know it b-itch! so shut up!
Love a LOT of racism. Grow up mate seriously. Kellys music is dire as are most other acts.
Calling Adele a white b****, does it make you feel greater and better?. Do one mindless child.
theres no such thing as racism against white people. and its clear to see that our culture is being white washed! they are using white artists to take top spots in the music industry. eminem adele sam smith etc are talented yes but much of their careers are helped by their white privilege. if eminem sam smith adele was black they wouldnt be anywhere near as successful. macklemore neither.
WHY PEOPLE HATING ON R KELLY BUT ACCEPT TYGA BEING A PEDOPHINE? HE’S A 26 YEAR OLD MAN AND WAS MESSING WITH A 16 YEAR OLD. NASTY. THEY ALL NASTY
Like I said, both terrible albums!
i agree augusts album was s***, he thinks copying old beats and adding features would be enough… the music was forgettable
Yes August album was a huge disappointment for me. Stale beats w/ production and song topics/lyrical not matching them. And a lot of same monotone singing. Where are the levels? I enjoyed first half of r Kelly album tho.
Damn everyone’s slaying Ciara LOL…19K
And Brandy singing on subways. Die slow bih.
LOL Oops she mad.
At what? Your fav is irrelevant.
And your fav is? LOL..>>>>19K, seeeeeeeth h**! lol
i love ciara but brandy singing on a subway is better than ciara singing anywhere. not to mention her last album had first week sales of 65,000 and eventually sold 180,000. more than ciaras last three albums combined.
Finally somebody who agrees !!!
They trynna get rid of R&B….We need a movement people
Movement again people not buying music?? Black people don’t buy albums anymore #simple
you sound dumb! It’s not about black people buying albums, it’s about the low ratings every R&B album gets from critics, no love from MTV VMAs like back in the 90’s, No high chart toppings because billboard fix the system to glorify bubble gum pop!
i agree with both of you. its a mixture of things. i love my people and my culture so much. i do. but we dont put money back into our communities. most beauty supplies are owned by asian people for gods sake. HOWEVER when it comes to music a black artist is more likely to be supported if white america also favors them. if white people dont like your music then you can kiss platinum plaques goodbye. sad but true. jazmine would sing CIRCLES around adele but white america sees her as typical black girl who can sing. they box artists like jazmine into centric and BET rotation only. at the same time im sick of these R&B artists who think being handsome is all it takes(trey songz this is your cue).
rnb isnt dead, we just havent found the right white person to make it yet.
the reason bey and rih are the two top selling rnb/pop black acts around is because they refuse to be forgotten. If its not music they have something else going, they keep the media interested and their media persona’s are like no other. There is only one queenbey and only one badgalriri
Well their music just wasn’t good enough, it just wasn’t it. Hopefully they put in extra effort next time.
Interesting….
So is Tuna can going to see these numbers?
Music is crap and they got nothing but a stream count each from me. According to Nicki, that’s a album unit sold. So there you have it.
.
For everyone that’s crying, did you buy?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Knd2el4Lfw
Well this is just sad. I feel for every artist right now that isn’t Adele.
B*******. R&B is not dead.
🙁 R Kelly
Goedemorhen domme kneusjes, het nieuwe album van marianne weber is heel goed, doei stinkende sukkeltjes
So tired of all this constant World against Blacks racial BS. Do you ever see Latinos crying about how they and their genre don’t sell for 5hit in the US? No, you don’t. Do you ever see them crying about not getting Emmys, or Golden Globes, or Oscars despite the fact that they are a much higher percentage of the population than Blacks? NO, YOU DON’T! Latinos hustle and don’t b1tch endlessly about some perceived slight.
shut up. thats not even the point. nobodys “crying” about anything. theyre telling the truth. the music industry was created by black people. did you forget motown you idiot? it started in detroit from barry gordy. edm/pop music also was created in detroit by black people. or did you forget that as well? this is OUR culture . this is OUR industry and it has been tainted by white people who saw an opportunity to capitalise off of it. its no different from what elvis did back in the day. latina/o people arent “crying” about “percieved slights” because they dont have someone like iggy adele or sam smith making millions off of reggaeton music you stupid turd.
R. Kelly is just boring these days. King of R&B, yeah, I know…but in these days, he’s a one trick pony. album after album he simply sings about s**….yawn
Awe… that grape juice doesn’t know the difference between the former and the latter. #journalism
1989 sold another 38,000 in the states this week! So amazing!
Taylor Swift’s 1989 (12-9 with 49,000 units; up 28 percent) return to the top 10. Actually billboard says this!! Even better!!
if only her vocals could go up 28 percent.
this is why ill always support bey rih nicki drake wayne j cole kendrick because our culture needs them. they are powerful and melinated which is something that white people lowkey hate. white people suffer from not being able to see themselves in powerful black figures or any other powerful person of color. they naturally feel threatened and insecure. the majority of white people cant sing or dance and they dont have culture. thats why everyone is so amazed when a white person does something that the average black person could with ease.
Ya’ll are crazy. August Alsina is the s***!!!!
And btw, I’m white & I love r&b & hip hop music.
and b.itch what is your point? do you want a f.ucking cookie? see this is exactly what i be talking about.
No,don’t want a cookie but I’ll take a b**!!!!
Why are you calling her a b****? Grow the f*** up.
Yes it’s a known fact that r&b is being white washed due to record labels only funding white artists and leaving black r&b artists to make it on their own. However, r&b could make a resurgence if these artists would step outside the box and do something different. R.Kelly wants to be 25 again, August is too immature to connect with the masses, Chris Brown has image/mental issues, Monica keeps working with stale producers giving us the same boring ass album over and over, Tamar and her team always pick the wrong singles, Brandy takes too many damn breaks from music, Usher is creatively confused right now, Miguel is mediocre at best and Trey Songs is determined to stick to one formula that will never see him go mainstream. Beyonce, Rihanna and Justin Timberlake are the only ones who are taking risks to move r&b forward.
F** stfu, you’re assessment is total b*******. You Brandy fans are always trying to throw shade. Worry about your ugly ass fav performing in EMPTY STADIUMS and on SUBWAYS. By the way b****, she’s on her 4th flop Cd, soon to be her 5th.
why does everyone shade brandy? that subway singing was an experiment you idiot. she will always be able to book a tour. lets take a look at the receipts shall we? her last album sold 180,000 in the US. thats rougly 1,800,000 dollars off of one album. not to mention she went on tour. it doesnt matter how much more money other artists may have made than her consdering shes been in the game over twenty years now and still made that much off of a single album. plus even if she was on a subway, she could outsing more than half the industry on her worst day.
Why u mad tho? Did I forget to tip u the last time u took my order? I apologize to u and all of the other minimum wage workers I may have offended. I know poverty can be stressful.
The fact that you assume that all those people who disagreed with you, have minimum wage jobs, speakers volumes about your ignorance. Not surprised, considering what you wrote before that.
there is nothing racist about this.their albums are just terrible.this racism card is played out.beyoncé is black but she is still selling why? cos she brings out good materials.likewise,there are white artist who are not selling cos either their underground artists or their material are not good enough.THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH COLOUR.im black but i hate when we we always bring out issues of racism as an excuze to be mediocre and lazy.
shut up. theres race in this and you know it. do you honestly think adele or sam smith would be successful if they were black? no. youre clearly a self hating c***. you know good and full well that if white america doesnt like an artists then they wont go platinum. why do you think sam and adele get played on top 40 radio but not black artists that make the SAME EXACT MUSIC like maxwell or jill scot?? they get boxed into slow jam stations.
Thats not a notable margin. I doubt they even include STREAMS in with their sales predictions. Counting streams is annoys me music sales arent bad enough for billboard to steep so low & count petty insignificant streams which correct me if im wrong count single streams as album sales. Either way they both Flopped. #19k club.
In both of their defense they probably lost marketshare to eachother.
I’m sorry but their poor sales reflect their poor music. Frank Ocean scanned gold.The Weeknd almost sold platinum. Miguel’s music sold back when it was diverse. These acts don’t realize that this type of R&B is dead.
both albums were trash point blank lol. I hope everyone in the comments complaining bought the albums.
Y’all spend so much time worrying about sales and popularity instead of enjoying the music. It baffles me. Flop this and flop that. That’s all y’all know. These artists work hard and all y’all can do is come on the Internet and belittle them. The age bracket on this site is very clear.
R. Kelly is a GENIUS ! THAT MAN IS 4 SURE THE KING OF R&B BUT THIS ALBUM & HIS LAST ONE DID ABSOLUTELY NOTHING FOR ME !
I just wish that billboard would go back to the old system. Blk artists are at disadvantage even more now even though back in the day going mainstream was always the goal. Now you’ll be lucky to get top 40 radio spins. No act succeeds without radio. Seven Streeter don’t kill the fun should’ve been a mainstream hit for example she needs radio more than Alissa Cara “here” gets played on just about every radio station and it’s so rnb! She didn’t sell much first week thank god in a way because I don’t want labels producers thinking white Rnb automatically sells! Blk folks see what’s happening and if we thought nothing of it labels would only seek out the white artists female rnb esp. Whitewash they’d for damn sure do more of. Blk kids only listen to rap mainly so they support Rapp artists!
It’s funny how Rihanna is mentioned a lot. First off Rihanna is pop, edgy pop and not RnB. If Rihanna was all that why did her team quickly pull her album back because they knew Adele was going to drown her in sales. Rihanna had about three flopped singles and her team knew she was going to flip with that album. Beyoncé has done everything on her last surprised album by being vulgar and half naked like always so what’s left for her to do. Monica may not have overwhelming sales but who cares. She has always been about good music and her album is great. I think she will get recognizes for this album. I see a few Grammy nods for Code Red
August Alsina – one of my favorite singers