Kanye West has the number one album in the United States.
The G.O.O.D. Music rapper’s new album Donda debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart this week after moving 327,270 album-equivalent units in its first week of release. Some 44,311 are from pure album sales.
There’s probably no fan of hip-hop right now who isn’t discussing Kanye West’s latest offering Donda. That’s whether it’s how much they love it, hate it, or are simply not impressed by it. As it is with the usual Kanye effect, everyone is discussing it in some way.
Kanye has also been trending because the album has been doing some very impressive numbers. In fact, Donda is set to be confirmed as the second-highest debut in Spotify history. At the top of that list is his recent rival Drake, who claimed that honor with his 2018 double album Scorpion.
He may not be able to wrestle away that top spot but he does have some good news on the horizon as his original projected sales are set to go up. Kanye’s Donda sales projections was initially increased from 300k to 350k. It eventually fell just short of the 350K mark, but well over the 300K projected.
The added fifty thousand is expected from traditional album sales. DJ Akademiks noted that given Yeezy’s decision to release the album on Sunday morning, he missed out on two full days of potential numbers. Kanye has since said that the album was released without his permission.
Of course, it would not be a Kanye release without detractors. He seems to simply attract that type of energy. Two of the more popular names to harshly critique the album include DJ Envy and Charlamagne Tha God.
DJ Envy, who admitted that he hadn’t yet listened to the album said, “Kanye is a clown. He is a clown and a circus. He is a clown and circus, and I’m ashamed of the people around him — Bu, Free, Pusha, [John] Monopoly … he is a clown.”
Charlamagne Tha God also had strong words calling it “exhausting” and also that it sounded “dated.” So far fans seem to appreciate Kanye’s latest body of work as is evidenced by the sales. Most of his recent releases have divided fans, it was the same with his 2013 release Yeezus.
If you haven’t yet listen to Donda, it’s available on all streaming platforms.
