June 18, 2013 will go down as one of the biggest days in rap music history.
That was the day that Kanye West, J. Cole, and to a somewhat lesser extent Mac Miller all released albums. Leading up to the date, the talk was which rapper would have the number album of the week: would it be J. Cole, who had a traditional album release strategy, or Kanye West, who didn’t.
Unsurprisingly, Kanye West’s Yeezus ended up barely being the number one album in the country.
Kanye might have won the battle; but he still might lose the war.
The second week sales are in and Yeezus has dropped significantly. Last week the album sold 327,000 copies. This week the album pushed 65,000 copies, a staggering 80% drop.
While J. Cole, on the other hand, sold 84,000 copies this week, actually outselling Kanye after coming short of beating Mr. West the first week.
(You think Kanye is regretting his strategy now?)
So where does Kanye’s big second week drop rank? Scroll down to see some of the biggest second week sale drops of all time.
Fall Out Boy – Save Rock and Roll (down 77% in the second week)
So, wait: is rock and roll saved? We’re actually not too sure. At the end of August, popular punk rock band Fall Out Boy beat out Kid Cudi and his Indicud album for the number one album in the country. Save Rock and Roll, the band’s latest, moved 154,000 copies in its first week, a respectable amount. So how did the album do in its second week? Eh, not so respectable: the album’s numbers dropped 77%, with sales under 40,000.
Chris Tomlin – Burning Lights (down 78% in the second week)
Back in March, Christian music singer Chris Tomlin performed a minor miracle when he topped the billboard charts with his Burning Lights album. The album sold 72,000 copies in its first week. It’s a shame the Big Guy couldn’t give a hand in the second week when the album pushed less than 20,000 copies.
Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (down 78% in the second week)
November 22, 2010 was another big day for hip-hop. Three very important projects dropped that day: Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday and Ke$ha’s Cannibal. It would be Kanye, of course, who would have the big sales, doing over 600,000 copies in its first week. By week two he was down to 100,00 and by week three he was out of the top 10. Nicki’s Pink Friday would eventually outsell Kanye’s project, a great injustice, if you ask us.
Justin Bieber – Believe: Acoustic (down 79% in the second week)
Everyone knows that Justin Bieber has the most rapid fanbase in music. Now all he needs them to do is continue to buy his music. Justin Bieber’s Believe: Acoustic album, which dropped in February, had a pretty good first week, selling 212,000 copies. (That’s decent, considering it was just a way to pick up some extra cash.) Second week for the Biebs turned ugly, however; the album only ended up selling 44,000 copies.
Jay-Z – Kingdom Come (down 79% in the second week)
One of the reasons why Jay-Z’s big 2006 comeback album Kingdom Come was deemed a failure was because it underperformed at the stores. (Well, it was that and the fact that the music was no good.) Kingdome Come had an incredible first week, selling a career best 684,000 copies. However enthusiasm for the project seemed to die down (and it might have been because of the music.) Kingdome Come sold 140,000 copies in its second week. The album would end up sneaking its way to double platinum status.
Kanye West Yeezus (down 80% in the second week)
Read the intro, bros and broettes.
Mac Miller – Blue Slide Park (down 82% in the second week)
Mac Miller’s debut album is seen as one of the great modern day success stories: the project did 144,000 copies in its first, a great number considering that Mac was on an independent. Still, you can’t ignore how the album plummeted once the second week hit. Blue Slide Park pushed only 25,000 copies in its second week.
Passion: White Flag (down 83% in the second week)
Passion: White Flag is a gospel compilation album that was released last year. Apparently these gospel music fans only show up during the first week: in one week, the album went from 49,000 at No. 5 to 8,000 at No. 51.
Kid Cudi – WZRD (down 84% in the second week)
Kid Cudi isn’t scared to take risks. And sometimes don’t risks don’t really work. Take his WZRD album from last year as an example. The album sold 70,000 copies in its first week. By week two sales were down to 10,000.
Lady Gaga – Born This Way (down 84% in the second week)
Even the most popular pop singer in the world struggles at soundscan sometimes. Lady Gaga’s last album, Born this Way, sold 1.11 million in its first week, just a crazy number. The second number featured an even crazier number, however: 174,000 copies. Ouch.
Madonna – MDNA (down 86% in the second week)
Madonna has made a lot of history over the last 30 years or so. We’re pretty sure that she would like to scratch this off of her résumé. MDNA, her last album, sold 359,000 copies in its first week. By week two, however, that number was down to less than 50,000 copies. A damn shame. That album wasn’t all that bad either.
