Jay Z reached his own Holy Grail: his “Magna Carta” album sold 528,802 copies and debuts this week at number 1. That amount is ten times the copies of the number 2 album, singer Ciara’s self titled new collection. Indeed, for mid summer, this past week was pretty ho ho, sales wise. The number 50 album sold only 6,525 copies for example. And Kanye West’s “Yeezus” album, lacking a real hit single,” is still in the top 10. But the 28,000 copies it sold is what Kanye spends on hoodies. On the upside, Kanye’s been selling $120 t shirts to someone this week.
“Magna Carta” also sold 1 million copies at half price to Samsung, which gave them away to holders of their devices. No one knows how many of that million actually went to people. But since Samsung hasn’t made an announcement of any kind, it could be the numbers were lower than hoped for. A lot of people didn’t like giving all the info Samsung was requesting in exchange for the free download. Anyway, the million Samsung copies don’t count on the charts.
The album is already number 2 in real time on iTunes. It may not have “legs.” But the Justin Timberlake single “Holy Grail” is a hit. Maybe Justin will include a non-rap version on his album the way Alicia Keys did with “Empire State of Mind.” We can only hope.
PS “Magna Carta” broke a record at Spotify– 14 million streams. Biggest ever. One of them was mine. You’re welcome, Jay Z!
