What a weird week in the top 100 albums.
Justin Bieber’s surprise album release, “Swag,” is going to finish at number 2 on Friday with just 165,000 copies sold.
Almost all of those are from streaming. He only sold 6,500 paid downloads. Yeesh.
Bieber was hamstrung by having no physical product available. No CDs or LPs. “Swag” just exists in the air.
Justin would have finished first but Travis Scott hot-footed him with his own surprise album called “Jack Boys 2.”
“Jack Boys 2” is being pegged at 250,000 copies, almost all physical. But you won’t see “Jack Boys” on any actual chart leading up to this moment. That’s because it was sold as part of a merchandise box with a cap and a mask or a shirt and I don’t know what else.
“Jack Boys 2” by itself only sold 60,000 copies. But packaged up with that other mishegos pushed up the sales to 250,000.
Bieber could cry foul. But he has no manager. (Maybe his billionaire wife, Hailey, is calling shots.) So there was no preparation for “Swag,” no marketing. This is why Justin can’t afford a shirt, a belt, pants that fit, a decent roach clip, or a clue.
Bieber’s one consolation here is a modest single hit with a song called “Daisies,” currently number 4 on iTunes.
Come back Friday for the totals.
