As music lovers, the leak of A$AP Rocky’s debut album, LongLiveA$AP, is bittersweet.
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In this day and age, it isn’t uncommon for albums, especially hip-hop albums, to leak on the internet weeks or days before its release date, but in the curious case of LongLiveA$AP, a month leak hurts.
How artists perceive album leaks are typically measured by two variables, how and when.
Who leaks the album and when it leaks is very important.
Some of the best selling albums in the past decade have hit the internet two weeks early, and still managed to sell a massive amounts of units, but in Rocky’s case this leak may be detrimental to his album sales.
Even in the digital age, an album leaking an entire month before is sort of unheard of. Plus, with the holiday season coming up, Rocky may be faced with the tough decision to push up his release date in the wake of holiday festivities.
Despite being between a rock and hard place, Rocky will still sell a considerable amount of albums.
GlobalGrind decided to look back and round up 9 other artists besides A$AP Rocky whose albums leaked weeks ahead of schedule.
Most of these artists did well on the charts, and some of them had to add new last minute songs on their albums. Either way, everything turned out fine.
Check out A$AP Rocky and nine other artists who experienced major leaks below!
Portions of Tha Carter III were initially leaked in October 2007, but Lil Wayne fought back by putting those tracks on a mixtape titled, “The Leak.”
Lil Wayne let those tracks go, and eventually added more tracks to the album before it was eventually leaked two weeks prior to its June 10 release date.
Despite the leak, Lil Wayne went on to sell over a million records in the first week.
Jay-Z’s The Blueprint 3 leaked on the ‘net on August 31, 2009. The original release date for the album was set for September 11, but Jay-Z pushed up the release date by three days to September 8 to curb the affect on album sales. Despite being leaked, the album still went number one on the charts.
When MTV asked about the leak, Jay-Z responded:
“It’s a preview. I’m excited for people to hear the album. I’m very proud of the work I’ve done, so enjoy it.”
The White Stripes’ final album as a duo, Icky Thump, leaked 20 days before its scheduled release date on May 30. The album hit store shelves on June 19. The album debuted at number two in the U.S. and number one in the U.K.
After releasing his Relapse album, which received dismal reviews, Eminem planned on a major comeback with his seventh studio album Recovery.
The album eventually leaked on the internet two weeks ahead of schedule, causing the fans and critics to go into a frenzy to see if Eminem really recovered musically.
The album turned out to be a hit and still went number one despite leaking on June 7 with a June 22 release date.
Big Boi probably has one of the most epic leaks in music history. His debut album as a solo artist, Sir Lucious, began leaking a whole two years before its release date.
The first song on the album leaked on the internet, and slowly but surely tracks on the album began appearing online over a span of two years. By June 29, 2010 the entire album was on the internet, but most fans heard about a third of the album due to two years of leakage.
The album still did relatively well, debuting at number three on Billboard.
Drake’s major label debut album, Thank Me Later, was leaked two weeks before its scheduled release.
Although he wasn’t happy, Drake still encouraged his fans to enjoy by writing on Twitter:
“I gave away free music for years so we’re good over here…just allow it to be the soundtrack to your summer and ENJOY! JUNE 15th!”
Drake went on to sell 447,000 copies in the first week and his album eventually went platinum.
Although Michael Jackson’s 1995 collaboration with his baby sister “Scream” wasn’t an album, the epic song somehow got into the hands of radio jockeys in Los Angeles, who leaked the song on the radio two weeks before the single was produced for mass release.
T.I.‘s 2006 album, King, was leaked considerably. Over half of the songs were leaked on the ‘net before his release. To fight back, T.I. teamed up with DJ Drama and released Gangsta Grillz: The Leak for the “streets.”
Although he denied those songs were ever for the album, T.I. later admitted he had recorded over 100 songs that he was trying to narrow down. A few of the tracks from The Leak do appear on the actual album.
Unlike most of these artists above, punk hip-hop band, Death Grips, leaked their own album.
The band released their major label debut in April 2012, and had high hopes to release their sophomore album only months later. The band hit the studio for four months and eventually self-released their album No Love Deep Web on the web.
The band’s label, Epic Records, was pissed and decided to release the band of the contract only a month later. The band spoke out against the label, stating that if the record company wasn’t hindering their creative process, they wouldn’t have leaked the album. The band claims Epic wanted to save the album for 2013, and the band wanted to released the album in 2012.
