1 in 2013 with 528,000 copies sold in its first week (before the chart transitioned to a consumption-ranked tally in 2014). JAY-Z’s previous album, Magna Carta…Holy Grail, debuted at No. (227,000 SEA units 340.6 million song streams) and Sheeran’s ÷ (90,000 SEA units 134.6 million song streams). In terms of streaming debuts in 2017, it trails only Drake’s More Life (257,000 SEA units 384.8 million song streams), Lamar’s DAMN. The latter sum equals 122.4 million streams of the album’s songs. Of its total 262,000-unit start, 7,000 were in TEA units, while SEA units represented 82,000 units.
Of 4:44’s 174,000 sales in the week ending July 13, the set sold 131,000 as a download and 43,000 on CD.ĭespite 4:44’s absence from Spotify, the album still generated the fourth-biggest streaming debut of 2017. Overall, 4:44’s launch of 262,000 units grants the album the fourth-largest week of 2017, behind the debuts of Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. Then, on July 7, the album became widely available to most streaming services (but not Spotify, as JAY-Z pulled his catalog from the service in April) and to retailers as both a download and CD (with three bonus tracks).
The free downloads were ineligible to chart, per Billboard’s current pricing policy.) (In addition, by July 2, the album was also offered as a free download - sponsored by Sprint - via the web site. However, Tidal did not report data for the album to Nielsen Music for the week ending July 6, so the album did not debut on the July 22-dated chart. Carter Enterprises/Roc Nation) for one week of streaming exclusivity through Tidal.
1) will be posted in full to Billboard’s websites on Tuesday, July 18.Ĥ:44 was initially issued on June 30 (via S. The new July 29-dated chart (where JAY-Z starts at No. based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. 1 on the Billboard 200, as all 14 of his albums have bowed in the top slot. Magna Carta Holy Grail also went platinum.Īccording to Billboard, 4:44 will be released on Apple Music and iTunes this week.JAY-Z also furthers his own record as the artist with the most debuts at No. In this case, Sprint paid for these free albums, which means the downloads still count toward the album’s platinum certification.īack in 2013, Jay Z sold a million copies of Magna Carta Holy Grail to Samsung to give to Samsung Galaxy users for free, prompting the RIAA to change its rules to allow the Samsung downloads to count toward certification as soon as the album was released.
On Sunday, a number of 4:44 albums were made available to download for free with the voucher code “sprint,” which is still active as of today. Not all of 4:44’s sale numbers came from Tidal streams. In 2016, the company claimed it had 3 million subscribers, but a report this year claimed that it had been deliberately inflating subscriber numbers. Still, it’s unclear how many subscribers Tidal even has. On Monday, that barrier was eliminated, with the album made available to all Tidal subscribers. Anyone who hadn’t signed up for Tidal prior to the album’s release wasn’t able to listen to it, unless they were also a Sprint customer. 4:44 was released on June 30th exclusively to Tidal subscribers and Sprint customers.