Jay-Z’s Magna Carta Holy Grail is expected to sell between 350,000 and 400,000 copies its first sales week in stores, making it the presumptive #1 album when sales figures are announced next week (July 17), according to billboard.com. The sales projections are based in part on pre-orders through digital retail outlets.
If Magna Carta Holy Grail does indeed debut at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart next week, it would be Jay-Z’s thirteenth #1 album, as per Billboard. Jigga already holds the record for the solo artist with the most #1 albums in music history. The Beatles, who have 19 #1 albums, are the only artists with more #1 albums than Jay-Z, according to the story.
Jay-Z gave away 1 million copies of the album via Samsung users July 4 and the retail version of his album became available today (July 9). The next sales tracking week ends Sunday (July 14).
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Last week, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced that it was changing the way it certifies releases as gold and platinum, in part because of Sumsung purchasing 1 million copies of Magna Carta Holy Grail. “Going forward, sales of albums in digital format will become eligible on the release date, while sales of albums in physical format will still become eligible for certification 30 days after the release date,” Liz Kennedy, Director, Communications and Gold & Platinum Program, RIAA, wrote on riaa.com July 1. Traditionallly, a release is certified gold once it sells 500,000 units and earns platinum status once it sells 1 million units, and had been available for purchase for at least 30 days.
Jay-Z’s most recent solo studio album, 2009’s The Blueprint 3, debuted at #1 and sold 476,000 copies its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Hov returned to the #1 spot two years later with Kanye West for the Watch The Throne album, which entered the charts at #1 with 436,000 units sold its first week, as per Billboard.
(June 9)
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UPDATE:Jay-Z’s Magna Carta Holy Grailis expected to sell 528,208 copies its first sales week in stores, making it the #1 album in the country, according to hitsdailydouble.com. The final sales figures will be released tomorrow (July 17).
Magna Carta Holy Grailwill become Jay-Z’s thirteenth #1 album, according to billboard.com. The site initially reported that Magna Carta Holy Grail would sell between 350,000 and 400,000 units.
Ciara’s self-titled album is slated to be the #2 album in the country. It is expected to sell 57,515 units its first week in stores, according to hitsdailydouble.com.
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RELATED:Jay-Z’s “Magna Carta Holy Grail” Causes RIAA To Update Certification Policies
